Brora Rangers 0 - 1 Aberdeen

Assistant boss Craig Campbell took charge of the home side in the wake of Steven Mackay's weekend departure from the hotseat.
With Brora in their usual all-red strip, there was a first on field viewing of Aberdeen's smart dark blue away kit.

The visitors were first to threaten, a darting run by Michael Ruth ending with Gillespie's intervention which led to a corner. From the flag kick, Ryan Duncan's shot was knocked off the line.

Brora then began to dominate possession, but the Dons kept their defensive shape well to ensure there was no pressure on Tom Ritchie's goal. The opening exchanges were pleasing on the eye with both sides playing attractive football, Brora's passing very crisp and accurate.
Ritchie had his first action on 14 minutes as he comfortably held Gregor Macdonald's twenty-yard strike. Four minutes later the keeper had to be at his best, diving to his left, to turn away another fine shot from the same player.

As the half wore on Brora began to exert a stranglehold in midfield with the Dons youngsters struggling to hold on to the ball, their attacks being kept to a minimum. The home side's dominance very nearly paid off on 31 minutes when Andrew Macrae burst into the box, his left-footed shot from an angle just too high.

A fine cross from Finn Yeats picked out Ruth in the box, the striker's touch being a little heavy and the chance was lost as he was blocked off. Brora won the game's first corner on 38 minutes, but Ritchie got a good fist on Gillespie's delivery to clear the danger.

With four minutes of the half remaining, Jack MacIver tried his luck from the edge of the box, but his left-footed effort flew just too high.
Half time arrived with a blank score-line, the home side having enjoyed most of the efforts on goal, but a couple of fine saves from Tom

Ritchie ensured there was everything to play for in the second period.

Half time - Brora Rangers 0 Aberdeen 0

The Cattachs were quickly out of the blocks after the break and it took a brave block from Yeats to deprive them of the opening goal. At the other end, Aberdeen broke quickly and, when the ball was shuttled wide to MacIver, his shot brought out a fine save from home skipper Joe Malin. A wild challenge on Hanratty saw Gamble booked, the Dons bench adamant it should have been a red card.

Tyler Mykyta saw a left footed shot squirm just wide before Gamble and Sutherland came close to combining for the Highland League champions. Both sides were playing at a decent tempo and with plenty of determination.

A swift break down the right from Ruth saw him cut a delightful ball back from the line, but the volley from the inrushing Hanratty flew inches over. Aberdeen's best opportunity of the match. An hour into the tie and it was anyone's to win.

Controversy on 64 minutes when Finn Yeats was shown a straight red after a high challenge on Andrew Macrae. The decision looked harsh, but referee Dan McFarlane was in no doubt.

The ten men weren't downhearted and took the lead on 70 minutes, Milne breaking down the right before sending the ball to Ruth who angled the ball past Malin. It could have been two a minute later, Ngwenya feeding Ruth who clipped a shot over Malin but the ball rebounded to safety off the face of the bar.

The Dons won a penalty on 73 minutes when Hanratty was brought down in the area, Kevin took the spot kick himself but Malin pulled off a great save, Would the boys regret this miss?

Mason Hancock had to come off with a calf injury, Timi Fatona taking over at right back as Jack Milne moved to centre back.

Brora's play was becoming a bit frantic and they looked vulnerable to a swift counter-attack as was shown when Williamson was forced to bring down Ryan Duncan to prevent the big man going clear and earning himself a yellow card.

Mykyta was carded for preventing a free kick being taken quickly but the kids were digging deep and didn't look like a side playing a man short.

Brora almost grabbed an equaliser with two minutes remaining when Andy Macrae flashed a shot just wide. In the second minute of three added, Brora had the ball in the net, but an offside flag was up and the home joy was cut short.

Seconds later the final whistle blew and the Dons were through. Next up in the tournament is a home tie against Arbroath.

Full time - Brora Rangers 0 Aberdeen 1

Stats:

Barry Robson spoke to Andrew Shinie after the win:

"People always talk about the game and this free-flowing lovely football, but it does not always work like that.

"These are young players, who obviously learn the game in the right way, but they need to learn how to play the real game as we call it. They were up against experienced players tonight who have played 200, 300 games. They are clever and know how to stop you playing.

"The boys stood up to it well.

"I thought there were passages of play where we did really well. I thought we managed the game well. We went down the sides at the right times, we played at the right times and it was just that quick bits of talent that win us the game in the end.

"It is hard to get control of a game when you have a team who put the ball in behind you and over you and when you are up against good big strong aggressive players. So anytime the ball breaks down you have to try and win the second ball and then go on the counterattack. It is very hard to get any free-flowing football. So we let them have it, and then tried to hit them on the counter. We worked on boys coming into little spaces, people going behind them, using clever little passes to try and beat them and it worked well.

"You have to give the boys a lot of credit.

"We have some who are out on loan, we have some training at different clubs, some are at Cormack Park, some are at Pittodrie; this team in not a unit. This development group was brought together for an hour yesterday so they could go out and play this game tonight, so it shows you how well they did.

"We put as much organisation into them in that hour as we could, but we also challenge them and allow them to go out and work it out for themselves and they did that tonight.

"When you look back at the game, we had more of the clear-cut chances. We were clever, we were bright, you could see the talent in the team. I thought Kevin Hanratty, Michael Ruth and Ryan Duncan caused them all sorts of problems.

"The game does not always go your way, but they hung in and they showed their heart and their spirit and they showed what it takes to play for Aberdeen. A lot of these boys came through with me from the U18s. I said to them afterwards, that is the type of players that we like to see at this club.

"You have got to try and find a way to win a game and they did that.

"In the first team, there are games when you are not always going to get your own way and these boys have learned that tonight. They played clever and smart and produced sucker punches at the right time.

"Arbroath in the next round will be a big ask for us. There are a lot of 17-year-olds in the squad. We also had 16-year-olds on the bench and 15-year-olds that we were not allowed to play. So we are very young and we need to be careful. Great experience for them tonight, and we will see how we go against Arbroath."