Brechin City
0
Aberdeen
3
Match Report - By John Hoey
Brechin City 0 Aberdeen 3
Brechin City went down to a 3-0 home defeat from a strong Aberdeen side in their first pre-season friendly of the season.
Despite the score-line which reflected the visitors domination throughout the ninety minutes, manager Darren Dods would have been pleased with the way his team harried and battled against a side who have undoubted class and who look set to challenge at the top of the Premiership again next season.
City started the match with Paddy O'Neil in goal and a back four of skipper Paul McLean, Darren McCormack, trialist Gareth Rodger and Willie Dyer. Euan Smith, Alan Trouten, trialist Elliot Ford and Finn Graham were in midfield while Ally Love and Ross Caldwell were up front.
The Dons fielded a strong side which included new signings Joe Lewis and Jayden Stockley while other recent additions Neil Alexander and Anthony O'Connor who only put pen to paper on a new Pittodrie deal yesterday were on the bench.
The opening minutes of the match were fairly nondescript as both sides got the measure of each other but Dons soon asserted their authority and should have grabbed the lead in the 14th minute when a close-range Ryan Jack header looked net bound, but Paddy O'Neil somehow managed to tip the ball round the post.
The City keeper brought off another fantastic save five minutes later when Scott Wright played a delightful ball through the City defence to Adam Rooney who had time and space to pick his spot in the net but O'Neil dived low to deny him.
The Dons were now in almost complete demand and they grabbed the opener a minute later. Graeme Shinnie swung over a corner from the left which the home defence failed to clear and Jayden Stockley was on hand to blast the ball into the roof of the net with O'Neil helpless.
The visitors continued to exert pressure on the City rearguard and Rooney missed another good opportunity before Lawrence Shankland doubled his side's lead in the 34th minute when he cut in from the left and fired a low drive past O'Neil.
Both sides made changes at the start of the second-half with Alan Trouten and Ally Love being replaced by Andy Jackson and James Dale while Shankland, Wright and Lewis made way for Peter Pawlett, Cammy Smith and Neil Alexander for the Dons.
The second half soon began to replicate the pattern of the opening 45 minutes with City working tirelessly but again under almost constant pressure from a classy Dons team.
Substitute Cammy Smith had a shot crash off the bar in the 55th minute and then came close with another three shots in quick succession as the visitors exerted their authority. As the half wore on, the Dons should have doubled their half-time advantage when a Stockley effort was just over the bar while 16 year old sub Connor McLennan came even closer in the 82nd minute when he volleyed a great cross from Shay Logan off the crossbar.
However, the final goal of the game was only delayed by a couple of minutes when Ryan Jack finished off a neat three-man move to slot the ball past O'Neil.