Aberdeen 2 - 3 East Fife

Edited by Norman MacDonald

The Pittodrie puzzle is more complicated than ever. The League championship campaign opens on Saturday first, and only an optimist would be prepared to say that the Aberdeen club have yet unearthed the talent to win this long, testing race.

The team that captures the League flag must be consistent, and the Dons' best friends could scarcely credit them with this virtue.
It was hard to believe that the same eleven players in the identical positions beat Rangers in mid-week. Against East Fife they appeared sluggish and unenterprising.

Granted they played with lots of dash after the interval. Curran had several splendid saves, but too often desperation took the place of skill amongst the forwards.
East Fife's three goals in the first half pinpointed a lack of co-ordination in defence.
Lowrie and Harris failed to provide a reliable service to the men in front. It may be a case of this pair sacrificing attack to provide additional protection to their own goal. It so, their efficiency is being impaired.

IN the six League Cup-ties Aberdeen have conceded fifteen goals and scored ten. Obviously no team with ambitions can afford to be generous in the matter of conceding goals.
Experiments have been made and reserve players have been given a chance. The gamble of playing Shaw at half-back and Lowrie at inside left lasted one game.
None of the changes could be described as an unqualified success. In the case of Hay and Rodger patience must be exercised. They will require time to mature, and certainly the left back should be persevered with in the first team.

ABERDEEN F.C. can claim that they have been handicapped by injuries. Baird is recovering from a broken jaw; Boyd from a cartilage operation; Young is playing himself back to form after a broken ankle and Hamilton is nursing an ankle injury.
The Pittodrie officials are entitled to expect some improvement when these players are again available, but I doubt very much if their return will solve all Aberdeen's team problems.
Every enthusiast wants to see the Dons take a leading role in Scottish football. The Aberdeen club has a strong and loyal support and it is up to the officials to see that they are not disappointed.
There is no need for panic, but it would be foolish to ignore completely the lessons to be learned from the League Cup-ties.

Source: Evening Express, 3rd September 1951