St. Johnstone 2 - 0 Aberdeen

This much was played on the Recreation Grounds, Perth. The teams were as follows:-

Saint Johnstone: Cant; Turner, Hannah; Thomson, Samson, Ogilvy; Lavery, H. M. Bruce, Burns, Cameron, McGregor.
Aberdeen A: King; Hannah, Macfarlane; Davidson, Simpson, W Low; Hay, Towns, Dalgarno, Ritchie, Bruce.

To play opened briskly. Two throws in proved of no avail to the Aberdonians, as Turner and Hannah showed themselves to be more than equal to the onslaught of the forwards. Offside against Burns brought the wrath of the crowd down upon the referee. Cant distinguished himself by bringing off a good save from the midst of a bevy of players from a corner. At the other end of the field King was also instrumental in clearing his charge while pressed by McGregor and Cameron. Burns had the best individual try of the day so far. When hemmed in by the defence he narrowly missed footing the saints further on the lead. Just before the interval Samson was heavily brought down near midfield.

Dalgarno of set the ball in motion, and the left wing bore down, and Turner cleared by punting. A foul against Ogilvie delayed pressure for a minute. Davidson sent the sphere well into goal, where Turner, running round him, cleared easily. McGregor made a great opportunity to Burns, who, however, did not circumvent the opposing defence. King kept his wits about him, and was loudly cheered for a magnificent save from Lavery. Saints drew first blood. Lavery sent in a grand corner kick, which landed beside McGregor. The Saints with the fare breeze again opened well, play being confined to the left wing. The play of Aberdeen, was showing considerable improvement. Dalgarno fouled near midfield, and king was called upon to save a high shot from Samson. A fouled close in off Macfarlane looked ominous for the visitors. Lavery crossed beautifully, and Cameron, lying in a convenient position, grazed the crossbar. Before time a second goal was scored for the Saints. The gate amounted to £22.

Source: Aberdeen Daily Journal, 17th August 1908

After their plucky displays in the practice games, very favourable expectations were formed of the A team. It was expected that if they did not beat St. Johnstone, they would at least draw. Considerable disappointment was expressed when the result came north that they were defeated by 2-0.
It was quite evident that they could not not play the same game on the narrow pitch that they played at home ; add to this that they had two punishing games during the week, and we are not far wrong in attributing this to their failure. What appears to us as strange is the fact that none of the five forwards were able to score. They must have been weakly supported from behind if they could not get a goal in the whole ninety minutes. We will not be hard, on them this time, but hope they will do better yet ; in fact, we are confident they will.

Source: Bon-Accord, 20th August 1908