Dunfermline Athletic 1 - 0 Aberdeen

Aberdeen were becoming as bad on the road as they were good at Pittodrie. The closest the Dons came to breaching the Pars defence was a Solberg strike, which smashed off the upright. The game was effectively a 0-0 encounter with only an Aberdeen mistake deciding the outcome. McGuire failed to guide the ball back to Kjaer and Bullen took advantage to score.

Aberdeen started brightly and were denied two early chances by tight offside decisions. The first was a lovely control and pass by Zerouali with Guntveit the player adjudged offside. The home side had good possession, but created little. Aberdeen should have taken the lead in the sixth minute when Zerouali broke into the Pars penalty area. Only a desperate tackle by Skerla denied the Moroccan, but the ball broke back to him and he failed to lift the ball over the grounded keeper.

Two minutes later Jamie McAllister had a free kick from 30 yards saved by Ruitenbeek in the Dunfermline goal. Darren Young played the captain's role in the 15th minute when he got back to block a Mason shot from 12 yards. The Dons broke upfield, but a breakdown in communication between Mackie and Zerouali saw the chance wasted. Anderson had to look sharp in the 18th minute to clear his lines, but the Dons fell behind in the 22nd minute. Thomson played a long ball into the penalty area and it looked as though McGuire would steer the ball back to Kjaer. The defender delayed though and Bullen nipped in to steer the ball into the net.

Darren Young should have done better in the 29th minute following a quick free kick from Mackie on the left. Young cut inside, but he then unleashed a shot which went both high and wide. [audio:Major Chances] With five minutes of the first half remaining a corner was swung into the box. Mackie flicked the effort on to McGuire. The youngster should have delivered the ball back into the danger area, but went for goal with a harmless looping header, which the keeper held easily.

The Dons almost made a sensational start to the second half when Solberg hit a powerful drive from 25yards. The shot came smashing of the upright and Bisconti sent the loose ball over the bar. Dunfermline had a chance to extend their lead in the 53rd minute, but Bullen couldn?t steer the ball on target. Two minutes later Zerouali swung in a cross for Mackie, but the keeper did well to cut out the danger. Zerouali looked to set to deliver another of his spectacular strikes in the 58th minute, but he was unable to keep the 25yard effort down. The Dons were on the ascendancy, but the final ball constantly failed to find a forward. [audio:Bouncing Balls]

McAllister delivered a dangerous kick in the 63rd minute, but Guntveit?s header was easily held. Winters was next to try his luck from the dead ball. His 66th minute effort was well struck, but it took a slight deflection and was held by Ruitenbeek. Zerouali was having a great second half and in the 72nd minute he showed tremendous ball control before delivering a perfect pass to Mackie. Unfortunately the linesman adjudged the youngster offside. Three minutes later, Thornley replaced Mackie and he almost made the perfect start as he hit the bye-line and swung in a low cross, which Ruitenbeek missed. Unfortunately for the Dons, the home defence was able to clear.

An error almost cost the Dons a second goal in the 78th minute when Anderson was caught in possession. The central defender managed to recover and got back to block Bullen?s effort. The home side went close again a minute later before McGuire managed to block a net bound strike. The Dons threw on Derek Young for the tiring Zerouali and put Solberg up front in a desperate bid for an equaliser. Despite four minutes of injury time the Dons were unable to find the net and head back up the road empty handed again.
[audio:Not a poor game]
[audio:We've had luck]