St. Johnstone 3 - 0 Aberdeen

ON play there was not three goals between the teams. St Johnstone certainly deserved to win - they could finish off their outfield play - Aberdeen couldn't.

The Dons were but a shadow of the side that defeated Hearts the previous week. They had their scoring chances, but failed to take them.
Aberdeen's attack never got going. It was disjointed. The principal weakness, however, lay down the right flank. Graham and Dunlop had a poor game, and Williams and Bain failed to form a sound partnership.

FEW SUCCESSES

Only four of the Aberdeen players could be marked down as successes.
Rennie did quite well in goal, and George Thomson played a sound game at left back. Jock Thomson tried hard to rally the Pittodrie forces, but his efforts met with poor response. Taylor on the extreme left was a dashing raider, and with better support he would have been dangerous.
Watson in goal for St Johnstone had number of good saves, and Manderson is a promising young back. Smellie got through a lot of work at centre half, and Boyd did well on the left. Lorimer and R. Watson were the pick of the forwards.

THE GOALS

St Johnstone took the lead after thirty-three minutes. Hird and Sneddon broke away on the right, and from the winger's cross Lorimer sent the ball into the net with his body.
The home team increased their lead early in the second half. Rennie pulled down corner kick from Hird, but before he could clear Lorimer smashed the ball home.
Smeaton was the scorer of the third goal, and the Aberdeen players claim he was offside when he fastened on to a through pass from Boyd. The referee, however, was well up with the play. The inside left must be given credit for the smart manner in which he took his chance.

Source: Press & Journal, 25th March 1940