Griqualand 1 - 2 Aberdeen

NARROW WIN FOR ABERDEEN

ARMSTRONG SHINES THOUGH HURT

TROUBLED BY HARD PITCH

Kimberley, Wednesday.

Aberdeen scored another victory in their tour of South Africa, beating Griqualand West by two goals to one here to-day. There was no score at half-time.
Only 1500 spectators were present at the start in sunny, hot weather. The school band of the Christian Brothers College piped the teams on to the field to the cheers of the spectators.

SLOW TO SETTLE

The home side won the toss and Aberdeen were forced to face the sun. They took some time to settle down, especially as the ground was so hard, and they were often beaten by the bounce of the ball. In the opening stages their play was ragged.
Armstrong received an injury to his ankle and Beynon played in the centre-forward position.
As the game progressed Aberdeen began to find their feet and play went from end to end of the field, the Griqualand side fighting hard. Both goalkeepers had plenty to do and each made several pretty saves.
Armstrong eventually had to retire. His absence again unsettled the Dons' forward line and towards the interval the home side pressed continuously. Neither side managed to score before half-time.
Armstrong resumed on the right wing when the second half began. The Dons now showed their mettle and attacked hard.
The visitors opened the scoring twelve minutes after the resumption. Armstrong, although a passenger, managed to put across a nice centre. The goalkeeper got to the ball, but fumbled and Lang nipped in and netted cleverly.

DONS ON TOP

The South Africans seemed to become rather tired, and with Aberdeen combining better, Griqualand saw very little of their opponent's territory during the second half.
A quarter of an hour before the finish Aberdeen increased their lead. They were awarded a penalty, but the home goalkeeper punched the ball out to the right wing. Armstrong quickly returned it to the middle and McKenzie drove a very hard shot wide of Wybenga.
Five minutes later, Griqualand West reduced their arrears following a clever movement by their forwards. After working their way down the field by clever short passes, Stone rounded off the movement with an excellent long high dropping shot.
On the whole, the Aberdeen side's play was not so good as that shown when they beat a Western Province side by 7-3 at Cape Town last Saturday. Griqualand West put up a fine defence.
For to-day's match Aberdeen left out Falloon, Strauss, Fraser, Mills and Scott.

Source: Press & Journal, 27th May 1937