Partick Thistle 1 - 1 Aberdeen

Dons Will Be Difficult To Shift From The Top

THE Dons' record the only undefeated team in "A" Division of the Scottish League still holds, and on present form is going to take exceptionally good team to shift them from the top rung.

They drew 1-1 at Firhill with Partick Thistle. They worthily earned a division of the points before a crowd officially unnounced as slightly over 31.000. What is more they enhanced their reputation, and the big crowd must have been fully satisfied with the play of the Pittodrie team.
Every game now is like cup-tie to the Dons but there is no sign or their cracking.
Many of the leading men in football, including four selectors, were at Firhill. Aberdeen were the better team before the interval, and on play should have been leading. In the second half Thistle held a slight advantage, so that, over the piece a draw was a fitting result. Pdttillo put Aberdeen ahead a few minutes after the resumption, and Shankley got the equaliser. Taylor failed with a penalty for Aberdeen, Steadward making a superlative save. A terrific\drive by Baird had Steadward beaten, but the ball rebounded to safety off the crossbar.
Aberdeen team fought with tremendous enthusiasm throughout. There was not a weakling in defence. Johnstone was grand in goal. McKenna was the best back afield, and all three half-backs performed with great credit.
Forward Pattillo and Baird were outstanding, and Armstrong held the line well together.
Steaaward saved the Thistle on several occasions. Curran was a grand back, and Shankley in great form at right half. Forward, too, much was expected from McKennan, and the big inside man engineered Thistle's equalising goal.

Source: Press & Journal, 1st October 1945

ABERDEEN, the magnet club of Scottish football, on Saturday delighted another crowd of over 30,000 at Firhill Park as did their opponents, Partick Thistle.
Every now and then the distinctive design of the unbeaten League leaders would flash through, particularly during the first half, when with ordinary luck and reasonable care they could have obtained the two goals their superiority deserved.
But Baird's shot-of-the-match, from 26 yards, rebounded from the crossbar, and Taylor's penalty kick was brilliantly saved by Steadward, the complete goalkeeper.
This nimble, gallant youth had no chance with Armstrong's deceptive header that enabled Pattillo to shoot to the top of the net from close in after the interval; but from his goalline he enjoyed the thrill of McKennan boring through and allowing Shankly to race from behind and deliver the shot that equalised.

My "discovery"

A good draw of a men's contest in which the soldier inside right stalwarts, McKennan, of Thistle, and Baird, of Aberdeen, captivated the Scottish F.A. selectors present and the happy thousands on sunlit terraces.
In my travels to the remote centres, where Aberdeen's star team was forced to play in recent seasons to crowds of a thousand or two, I "discovered" Baird, and predicted the highest honours for him. No surprise, therefore, to me, to find him now the most discussed forward in the country.
He and his Aberdeen colleagues were a good team on Saturday, but the best was not seen of them - the second half was below standard.
It must be emphasised, though, that Thistle's defence is practically unbreakable.
Pattillo, like Baird frequently varied his play and his passing, but neither wing man had the incisiveness essential to strain McGowan and Curran, full-backs, who never hesitated and who directed the ball consistently in the right direction.

Kiddie's need

Were Kiddie less introspective he would become a star right winger. He has the football, the speed, the strength of limb, and the physique.
When Shankly "opened out" after the interval Thistle's half-back division excelled, but their constructive forcing work simply emphasised the unevenness in an attack that never promised to get on top of Aberdeen's shrewd defence.
Candlin went through once to hit the ball with terrific force from 10 yards, Johnstone's one-handed save, was spellbinding.
Bremner, who has adapted himself soundly to the right half position, usually anticipated the moves of Thistle's left wing.
Dunlop had a difficult afternoon in the centre of the field, but he played his part well in front of Cooper and McKenna, an ideal full-back blend of long experience and buoyant youth.
The boy Wright, who opposed McKenna, often revelled in centring and displayed fine poise, but he had a tendency to turn back with the ball. If he rectifies this he can establish himself in a Thistle team that requires greater cohesion to rival Aberdeen in combination.

Report by W. M. Gall of "The Mail"

SNAPSHOTS

Believe It Or Not

STRANGE, but true. Yesterday was the first time Aberdeen fielded a complete eleven made up of their own players, since the war. Up till yesterday the Dons had had to depend on guest players.

Capacity crowd at Firhill were kept yelling for 100 minutes. Yep, they even roared through the interval, for a wag from the terracing trotted on to the field, grabbed the ball, demonstrated how George Taylor, of Aberdeen, should have sunk his penalty-kick - all to the accompaniment of bellringing, and peals of laughter from the slopes.

Representatives Provost Gray, George Graham, and Alec Irvine, Hearts, of the new international team selection committee, loocked on. Players who impressed them were Steadward - Bobby Brown couldn't have bettered his old colleague's display - and Aberdeen's Bob McPhail-like inside forward Archie Baird.

Source: Sunday Post, 30th September 1945