Heart of Midlothian 2 - 1 Aberdeen

At Tynecastle, Edinburgh, before about 16,000 spectators, the Heart of Midlothian were able to gain a couple of points at the expense of Aberdeen, who, though beaten by the odd goal in three, ought to have drawn the game. The Hearts, in the hope of finding a reliable side, made numerous changes, one of which was the introduction of Duncan, a Bathgate player, at centre-half, but the rearrangement at half-back hardly strengthened the team. The game was keenly contested in the first half, and Rankine opened the scoring for Aberdeen, but J. Sharp quickly equalised for the Hearts, who scored again through Lister. After the interval play deteriorated, but the Hearts, though not too well served by their halves, held their own. Near the end Thomson was well placed to make the scores level, but, failing to gather the ball properly, he was dispossessed and Aberdeen lost the best chance they had had during the second half.

Source: The Scotsman, 5th December 1921

On the general run of the play, Aberdeen were very unfortunate to be beaten by Hearts at Tynecastle, where the Edinburgh side scraped through by 2 goals to 1. There were 15,000 spectators, and these were treated to a strenuous and always interesting encounter in which the issue was always in doubt. The players threw themselves into the conflict with an abandon which reflected how sincere was the desire of both sides to win, and as the result these were numerous stoppages for injuries, the outcome of play that was always vigorous and robust without being outwith the limits of legality. All the scoring took place in the first half. Aberdeen were the first to count, when a period of hot pressure was capped after fifteen minutes' play by Rankine catching on to a weak clearance to beat Kane from short range. Hearts were on level terms inside two minutes, smart play by their right wing and a cross to Sharp resulting in that player cutting in to beat Anderson with a hard shot. Subsequently Aberdeen applied persistent pressure. Kane just managed to tip over the bar a great drive from Miller, and on several occasions the Hearts' goal had narrow escapes. From a breakaway and at a time when they looked least like scoring, Hearts took the lead in an unusual manner. Meikle forced a corner off MacLachlan and subsequent to the flag-kick there was a melee in front of the Aberdeen goal. The ball was twice blocked on the goal-line, once by Anderson and the second time by Forsyth. Upon the latter clearing, the Hearts' players claimed that the hall had been over the line. At first Referee Dickson appeared to give "No goal," but, paying heed to the persistent claim by the Hearts' players, proceeded to examine the place where it was alleged Forsyth had been standing, and he then awarded a goal. This was after 25 minutes' play, and from then until the interval Aberdeen continued to force the game, but, playing too closely, failed to beat down the stubborn resistance put up by the Hearts' defence.

Claim Disallowed.

In the second half, as in the first, Aberdeen again held the upper hand. Middleton on the right wing, was injured, and unable to do himself justice, and his colleagues made the mistake of plying too liberally with the ball. Play generally was confined to Hearts' territory, but the Aberdeen forwards again adopted too close tactics, with the result that with the Hearts defence bunched in front of goal many shots were either charged down or blocked. If attacking less frequently, the Hearts' raids on the Aberdeen goal were always fraught with danger, and Anderson, on several occasions had to exert himself to the utmost. For Aberdeen Milne, MacLachlan, and Rankine all had creditable tries. On one occasion it was claimed that a shot from Rankine was over the goal-line before Kane cleared, but the referee disallowed the appeal. Towards the close Aberdeen attacked desperately, but they just failed to draw level, and in the end were unfortunate losers.
For Aberdeen, Grosert, Forsyth, Wright, MacLachlan, and Thomson were outstanding, and for Hearts Kane, Crossan, Birrell, Duncan, G. Miller, Meikle and Forbes were best.

Source: Aberdeen Daily Journal 5th December 1921