Aberdeen 2 - 1 Dunfermline Athletic

Dunfermline were the visitors to Pittodrie, Aberdeen, on Saturday afternoon, when they met the Aberdeen reserves in a Northern League match. The weather was bitterly cold, with a strong breeze blowing off the sea dot snow covered the pitch to the extent of half an inch. There were a few hundred spectators present when the teams lined up as follows, under discharge of Mr. Baird, Montrose:-

Aberdeen A: King; Hannah, Macfarlane; McConnachie, Simpson, Davidson; McEchern, Towns, Dalgarno, Ritchie, Neilson.
Dunfermline: Savage; Harvie, Herd; McLaughlin, Brown, Adamson; Livingstone, Wood, Fordyce, Hamilton, Munro.

Dunfermline, winning the toss, played with a breeze in their favour. Right away the visitors commenced to attack. They had a run down on the left, and Munro's cross was picked up by King. Play was confined to Aberdeen's territory. The visitors failed to press home the attack because of the insecure foothold the ground gave, and on a count of the highly wind, which spoiled many attempts at combination. Aberdeen's goal had numerous narrow escapes. On one occasion a terrific shot from Munro struck the foot of the post. McEchern was the most prominent player on the field. He made ground repeatedly, but he was not well supported. A cross from McEchern was secured by Neilson, who sent in an excellent shot. The ball was making straight for the net when Savage caught it high up. Was a splendid save. After 25 minutes' uninteresting play, Dunfermline secured a goal. A weak goal-kick by Hannah resulted in Fordyce getting the ball well in, and the centre-forward had no difficulty in scoring. The game was very fast after this. Both teams forced corners, and close on half-time Aberdeen equalised. A perfect pass from McEchern was picked up by Ritchie, who beat Savage with a hard drive. Play was very fast until the interval, but there was no more scoring.

Favoured with the wind, Aberdeen immediately attacked on resuming. For fully 15 minutes play was confined to the visitors' half of the field, and only grand defensive play prevented the locals from scoring. During a fierce attack on the Dunfermline goal, one of the backs handled within the penalty area. The referee gave a penalty, from which Hannah gave Aberdeen the lead. Dunfermline played with much more dash after this, but their best efforts were of no avail. They had several promising runs, but they could not score. Dunfermline were awarded a penalty. Wood took the kick, but King saved. Aberdeen attacked almost continually until the close, but there was no more scoring.

Source: Aberdeen Daily Journal, 8th March 1909

The players in the Aberdeen "A" and Dunfermline Athletic game made very poor use of their powder and shot at Pittodrie on Saturday. What went wrong was their inability to guage the velocity of the wind, which troubled them throughout the game. The visitors scored first goal through their centre, who was the only decent shot on his side. From a break-away and a lively cross by MacEchern, Ritchie beat Savage with a shot that would have troubled most keepers. This was all that the marksmen could do in the first 45, and in the second, Hannah found the net from a forceful free kick from the penalty line, which one of Dunfermline's defenders foolishly gave away. Hannah, himself, was penalised for a purely accidental handle inside the line, but the visitors failed to get past King. It was mainly through some good work on the part of Savage, that the home side failed to get more goals than 2, but they were quite sufficient for the purpose of gaining the points. The players found difficulty in keeping their feet on the partly frost-bound pitch, which had been left covered with snow - a wise precaution in the circumstances. Play never reached a high standard, and was only fairly interesting.

Source: Bon-Accord, 11th march 1909