Aberdeen 3 - 0 Bon Accord

There was a big crowd at Pittodrie on Saturday when the Aberdeen and Bon-Accord met in the final of the 'Shire Cup. The blues lost the toss, and kicked off towards the sea, but did not make much headway against the strong east wind which prevailed. Play was of a very mixed description for the first fifteen minutes or so, neither team doing anything brilliant. The homesters had the best of the play, and forced two corners, both of which, however, were muddled by Johnstone sending behind. Another corner was forced, and McAulay taking the kick landed the ball with great judgment right in front of the Bon's goal, where Charlie Mackie headed through the first point of the match. From the kick off the Whites came away again and forced other two corners, both of which were perfectly placed by McAulay and Bonnar, but, however, without any further success, The Bons got away, and Ritchie tested Barrett with a high dropping shot which the custodian saved in a very clever manner, with two of the opposing forwards in close attendance. The Aberdeen broke away on the left, and Henry Low sent in a lovely cross from the touch line from which Sangster headed a fine goal.

Football of the ding-dong order was the rule from this on till half-time, when the ground team crossed over with a two goal lead. On resuming the Whites at once continued to keep up the pressure, but their attack was repulsed before McBean was troubled. Ferries and Ritchie, who were proving a hot handful to Mackie, got away on the left, and from one of their raids the former opened the blues' scoring account with a good shot. End to end play was the run of the game for a time, until Bonnar sprinted off on the Aberdeen's right wing and centred well into the Bon's goal. McBean left his charge, and made a terrific drive at the sphere, but to everyone's surprise and his own horror he missed, and McAulay lying handy, that player found it a simple matter to find the net. After this point the Whites evidently thought that now was the time to take matters easy, but they reckoned without the Bon-Accord. Led by Milne, they made determined rushes on the Whites' defence, which was quite unable to withstand the onslaught. Knowles bounded away on the right, and crossed to the centre, Milne, who beat Barrett with a rather tame shot. Sleet now began to fall, and with the wind in their faces this made the homesters position anything but a sinecure. Hard and fast play was the rule on till time up, when the Aberdeen ran out lucky winners by three goals to two.

Points from Pittodrie.

Until the sleet began to fall, the weather, although cold, was all right for football.
There was a big crowd watching the struggle between the rival teams.
The Bon's portion of the £120 gate will more than likely be a big consolation for the loss of the cup.
We must admit they did not deserve to lose - a draw would have been a satisfactory ending to the run of play.
McBean is not only fluky, but unsafe, judging by Saturday's display. He made a bad mess of the third goal. Craig and Gault as a pair are nothing great. Their kicking is far from being straight, and not just quite sure.
The former was inclined, to take advantage of his weight with Johnstone, who was not very tenderly treated. Brown was the best of a hard working half-line, which is apt to get rather mixed.
The trio have all a strong inclination for shady tactics.
As a quintette the Bon's lot, although perhaps not showing so much of the finer touches of football, played a remarkably good game. They are a speedy lot, and what's more, know how to hustle the backs. That is where their success lay. Milne and Ferries were the pick.

In the home goal Barrett was not so safe as usual, and should at least have saved one of the goals - the second.
The same may be said of the backs, who got flurried at the critical moment.
Sangster, Strang, and Low all played a hard and good game. In the front rank McKay and McAulay were the best. The former put in a lot of hard work and should, we fancy, soon be back to his best form - a thing we have yet to see.
McAulay's two corners were perfect beauties, but we have seen him play to his partner oftener and with greater success.
Johnstone was off form, while C. Mackie is again troubled with that complaint - selfishness. We would suggest a further trial of Shinner at outside right, as he cannot possibly do worse than the displays we have had from this position during the past few weeks.

The cause of the Aberdeen's failure to show their superiority over the Bon-Accord lay in the fact that they did not steady themselves when the visitors got on the move. There was a needless waste of energy and running about.
No fault could be found with the referee - Mr. Black, Edinburgh - who is about as perfect as one could wish.
There are still some critics who fancy they know the new off-side rule better than the referee.
We would recommend a second reading of it if they have not already done so.

C.

Source: Bon-Accord, March 10, 1904

It was quite within the bounds of possibility that the Bon-Accord would provide a surprise in their meeting with their formidable rivals, the Aberdeen, in the final for the Aberdeenshire Cup. They made special efforts by way of putting a strong eleven in the field, and were spurred to exceptional endeavour by a sense of the prestige, and therefore gate-drawing power, which a victory over the Aberdeen and the possession of the Aberdeenshire Cup would give them. The Aberdeen directors, on the other hand, were animated by the fear of the loss of prestige which defeat at the hands of the Bon-Accord would entail, and took no risks. The final, the seventeenth since the institution of the competition, was played at Pittodrie, and was witnessed by over 2000 spectators. The teams lined up as follows:- Aberdeen: Barrett; Mackie, McNicol; Sangster, Strang, Low; Bonnar, Mackay, Mackie. McAulay, Johnstone. Bon-Accord: McBean; Craig, Gault; Patterson, Bremner, Brown; Knowles, Duncan, Milne, Ferries, Ritchie. Mr Black, Edinburgh, was referee.

Aberdeen won the toss, and the Bon-Accord kicked off in face of a strong northerly breeze. For the first, few moments the Blues were very aggressive, and the Aberdeen had to defend. This state of matters did not last long, the Whites working their way to the other end, where Craig and Gault had their work cut out for them in keeping the opposing forwards in check. A free kick against Aberdeen gave the Blues a chance, and Ritchie had a try at the Aberdeen goal. The long, drooping shot was easily turned aside by Barrett. With the wind behind them, the Aberdeen kept their opponents pretty tightly hemmed in, but they had to cope with a stubborn and resourceful defence, which made few mistakes, and gave little chance of an opening. Indeed, some of the feats of the Bon-Accord defenders were quite brilliant. Under such condition, however, it was only a question of time when the attackers would wear down the defence, and the inevitable goal came after twenty minutes' play, Charlie Mackie heading past McBean from a well-placed corner kick. Cheered by their success, the Whites came back to the attack in irresistible style, and caused the Bon-Accord defence a good deal of anxiety, which unsteadied them somewhat. Three corners in rapid succession lead to a good deal of scurrying around McBain, who was beaten for a second time by Sangster, who smartly picked up a return from Henry Low. Aberdeen kept the upper hand during the remainder of the first half, but the Bon-Accord defence was sound, and no further scoring took place.

On resuming, Aberdeen at once took up the attack, but notwithstanding that the wind against which they were obliged to battle had considerably increased, they made good progress. Not for long, however, were they allowed to remain the aggressors. A goal kick let the Blues down, and, after some manoeuvring in front of Barrett, ferries got possession, and drove the leather hard into the net. After this success the visitors continued to attack in a determined fashion, Mackie and McNicol being occasionally hard pressed. The custodian, too, was tested with several dangerous shots from the Blues' front rank, Ferries and Duncan in particular having numerous excellent tries. Their period of aggression, however, was not of long duration. Aberdeen, mainly through the instrumentality of Jim Mackie and Sangster, repulsed the attack, and Bonnar finished up a fine individual run on the right by sending the ball across the goalmouth. McBean ran up to meet it, but missed his kick, and McAulay, who was in a favourable position, placed the ball in the net. The Blues, however, did not relax their efforts, and in a body they swept down on the home citadel, but after outwitting the Whites' half-back line succeeded in again beating Barrett, Milne doing the needful. For a time they continued to have the major share of the play, but towards the finish the homesters once more assumed the upper hand, although their opponents had several runs to their credit.

Source: Aberdeen Journal, 7th March 1904