Aberdeen 3 - 1 Heart of Midlothian

Snow covering the Chris Anderson pitch ruled out the young Dons' Premier Reserve League fixture against Celtic on Tuesday afternoon. The call-off extended the Premier reserve side's spell of inactivity to three weeks, with the possible side effect of losing the fresh impetus they gained from a 4-1 home victory over Rangers in mid-January.

Happily, however, Aberdeen's Under 18 side avoided the bad weather and added two more victories to their impressive record, following up a 3-1 Youth League win over Hearts at Keith Park, with success against Dunfermline in the quarter final of the BP Youth Cup, although the latter was a nerve jangling affair which went to extra time and penalties to reach a decision. The Hearts win was particularly gratifying in that it confirmed the 2-0 victory the Pittodrie Colts secured over the same opposition in Edinburgh in their last fixture before the festive season break just over a month earlier. That break, however, betrayed itself in the rustiness the Aberdeen youngsters showed in the first half of the Keith Park game. The visitors fully merited their interval lead, the only goal of the opening 45 minutes following on a corner kick.
Personnel and positional changes at the interval, however, had the desired effect within a couple of minutes of the restart when a through ball from Baldur Bett opened up the Hearts' defence and Derek Young supplied the finish for the equaliser. Lee Barclay, an interval substitute for Karl Williamson, put Aberdeen in front in 72 minutes with a header from Bett's flag kick, and a run to the bye line by Michael Hart in 80 minutes pave the way for Young to head his second goal from the resultant cross.