It was a second home game of the season for the London Dons on Sunday against Exeter City, a side who gave them more than few problems last year. With a few familiar faces missing it was a much changed Dons side for this one with Sharp away Rand was in charge and the Dons lined up 3-4-3 hoping to exploit the wings with their pace. R.Cairns came in for his first start of the season as did Arno up front alongside Aubrey.

It started brightly for the Reds with a few good attacking moves. Exeter were failing to settle and Aberdeen were getting a lot of possession but seemed too intent on moving it forward quickly rather than getting it under control. A couple of times they came close to getting through but with no real threat. On the 20 minute mark another move looked like it was set to peter out at the edge of the box as the ball broke away, midfielder Stewart did well to recover possession for the Dons flicking it back towards wing back Urquhart who was lurking around 30 yards out. As the ball dropped towards him nobody (including the man himself) could have envisaged what he was about to do as he absolutely thundered a dipping right foot volley which flew over the helpless keeper and almost burst the net. Certainly a contender for best RRR goal ever.

Exeter were stunned in to a response and started to play some neat football and gain a pretty decent foothold in the game, Smollet was tested with a 25 yard shot which he held well under pressure but all to often they made a mess of their chances and at the other end Cairns twice and Gunn with a decent shot from outside the box almost made them pay.

The second half started and the Reds made a couple of quick changes. On came Davidson and Ho for Cairns and the injured Urquhart, who obviously wasn't used to connecting with a ball so well. The Reds were beginning to edge more in to the game but Exeter still looked dangerous and Smollet had to be sharp to clutch a couple of crosses. The Dons were dealt a blow when Rennie had to go off with a hamstring injury, nothing that six weeks on an Australian beach won't cure which luckily for John is exactly where he is headed! Pritchard was thrown up front as a makeshift striker.

If the Dons thought this would be the signal for more Exeter pressure the exact opposite was true and the Dons got going again. Arno was beginning to cause problems and half time sub Ho was chasing around with great effect as the Exeter back line struggled to cope with his pace. Arno had a nice spell down the right where he was turning their full back inside out and even chipped the ball over his head twice in one move. Eventually the Dons forced a corner and the ball was headed clear to Aubrey who got his shot all wrong, so wrong in fact it fell to corner taker Arno who burst in to the box, with the home side appealing for offside (blatantly ignoring their two defenders on the posts) Arno coolly turned it back to Stewart who drilled it home, 2-0.

This was the breathing space the Reds needed in what had been a pretty uncomfortable afternoon and soon it was three. A classic Rob Roy goal brought back memories of many a similar goal over the years, Smollet launched a howitzer deep in to the Exeter half, Pritchard got up to head on and Ho had latched on to the flick and drilled low under the keeper before the centre half had started to move. Good finish for Ho's first of the season. A late consolation goal in the 90th minute didn't cause too many problems for the Dons but there were a few raised eyebrows as the ref managed to conjure up six minutes of injury time. The Dons held out and won a game 3-1 that they would probably have lost or drawn last season.

Man of the Match - Not a great day at the office for the Dons and most of the man of the match votes went to defenders, Gunn, Rennie and Ritchie. Calum Stewart nicked it for a solid midfield showing and a good goal. Urquhart picked up a couple of votes for his goal alone and it will be a long while until he betters it!

Team - Smollet, Rand, Ritchie, Rennie, Gunn, R.Cairns, Jelinek, Arno, Aubrey, Urquhart, Stewart Subs- Pritchard, Davidson, Ho