Aberdeen 2 - 1 Partick Thistle

Aberdeen recaptured their winning form, after losing to Celtic at Parkhead, in front of 11,000 spectators, but they had their supporters worried for long spells against a struggling team, eventually to be relegated. £60,000 buy Andy Harrow celebrated his recall to the first team with a splen-did goal. The other Andy (Watson) scored the winner.

Thistle, in their all-white strip, surged into attack and almost scored in 2 minutes. Johnston inter-cepted a slack pass-back by Gordon Strachan and his shot was cleared off the line by Willie Miller. Aberdeen retaliated with two corners but it was Partick who held the upper hand in the early stages of the game and Doyle tested Jim Leighton with a fierce 22 yard drive. Slightly against the run of play Aberdeen snatched the lead in 10 minutes with a brilliantly taken goal by Andy Harrow. He did very well to control a Strachan cross and his expertly placed lob from ten yards gave Rough no chance, Peter Weir, Alex McLeish and Harrow all came close to inflicting further damage on Thistle as Aberdeen attacked with power and precision. McLeish's header in particular, from a Weir corner, had the visitors' defence in a tangle.Neil Simpson shaved the post as the excitement mounted but a misunderstanding between McLeish and Leighton almost let Thistle in for a goal. Johnston passed to the unmarked Clark but he fluffed his shot. Strachan was in sprightly form and one amazing run, in which he beat three players, had the fans cheering. Neil Simpson was also prominent with his hard work in midfield, A Murray pass back beat Rough, the ball broke to Eric Black but his shot hit the side netting. Next Harrow sent a header whizzing past Rough's right hand post. One goal was poor recompense for all the home team's efforts.

Doyle was heavily tackled by Neale Cooper but then he caught the midfielder napping as he collected a defensive clearance. Park however shot weakly from Doyle's pass. Alex McLeish then limped off after a tackle and was replaced by Andy Watson. McLeish's departure caused concern as he was in the Scotland squad for Portugal in a few days. A minute later a great tackle by Willie Miller deniec Clark a scoring opportunity, Mark McGhee ther came on for Black but the Dons were beginning to struggle and the fluency was gone, It was no rea surprise when Clark equalised in 60 minutes. Leighton could only punch out a Park corner anc when the ball was returned into the area Clark wheeled smartly to hammer the ball into the net.
Thistle were now bouncing and disturbing the home side. Miller had to be at his best to halt a dar-gerous Johnston - McDonald move. Just after this incident O'Hare replaced Johnston as Thistle concentrated on trying to preserve their point. With six minutes to go Aberdeen regained the initiative with what proved to be the winning goal. McGhee sent over a great cross from the right anc Watson scored with an excellent header.