Partick Thistle 0 - 2 Aberdeen

Defence's Covering Up a Pleasing Feature
By NORMAN MACDONALD

QUIETLY, almost unobtrusively, the Dons went to Firhill on Saturday and picked up a couple of points. Where Partick Thistle failed by the employment of storming tactics, Aberdeen succeeded by the application of skill and method.

The Glasgow team expended a terrific amount of energy in this game, but for the most part it was wasted effort. They had no plan and no general.
What football there was came from the Dons. Their attack moved with a cohesion and purpose that was completely lacking in the Thistle ranks.
Aberdeen scored in the first minute and three minutes from the end.
In between, Partick for long spells battered against a Pittodrie defence that always remained cool and resourceful.
The Dons were not so gay and swashbuckling a company as they were in the cup-tie against Hearts, but they played with an austere confidence.
Some of the play of the forwards in the first half was slick and clever. With more directness at close quarters they would have retired at the interval with a lead of more than one goal.

Near Things

Three times, however, the woodwork saved Partick. Emery set the fashion with a free kick from eighteen yards that almost shattered the crossbar, and before halftime Hamilton hit the post and Yorston the bar.
The Aberdeen defence got a thorough testing at Firhill and they emerged with credit.
Master of ceremonies in the rear was McKenzie. The centre-half was the essence of reliability and controlled the traffic with coolness and resource.
Both Emery and McKenna had the measure of the opposing wingers and Anderson and Harris at wing half were a strong-tackling and determined pair of defenders.
The most satisfactory feature of the entire Aberdeen defensive set-up on Saturday was the smart covering up.
Partick Thistle had no attacker to compare in ingenuity and skill with George Hamilton. The Dons leader capped a fine display of intelligent distribution with a smartly-taken late goal.
Next to Hamilton comes Yorston, whose quick darts and sudden swerves had the Firhill defence in trouble. Pearson was in bewildering and tantalising mood in the first half, although there were occasions when he was inclined to put too much work on the ball.

Spirit Willing

Baird and Stenhouse were less conspicuous than their forward team-mates, but it was not because of lack of enthusiasm.
A long Anderson throw-in and a back-header by Hamilton started the fuss in the Partick Thistle penalty area that led to the first goal within a minute of the start.
The ball was only partially cleared and Pearson, who had stolen into the middle, fastened on to loose a fierce drive. The ball was chargcd down by a defender, but broke clear to Yorston, who sent it raging into the net with a left-foot drive.
Hamilton claimed the second goal three minutes from the end. Stenhouse provided a dangerous cross for Pearson to head against the face of the crossbar. As the ball dropped the Dons centre rose to head into the net.
Although it was a fiercely contested match the Aberdeen players emerged without serious injury. They can await confidently the winners of to-day's replay between Celtic and Third Lanark.

Source: Press & Journal, 20th February 1950