Aberdeen 2 - 2 Motherwell

In boisterous weather, and before not more than 600 spectators, the Aberdeen A and Motherwell A teams met in a reserve league much. Teams:-

Aberdeen A: King; Hannah, Low; Robertson, Moffat, Henderson; Hay, Towns, McKenzie, Edgar, Neilson.
Motherwell A: Hampton; Johnston, Kelly; Sharp, Sneddon, Downie; Johnston, Davidson, Hill, Bannerman, Tennant.
Referee - Mr. Isaac Stephen, Fraserburgh.

With the wind, which blew diagonally down the field, Aberdeen gave a poor display, the Motherwell backs easily mastering the attack, while the visitors' forwards moved and manipulated the ball very smartly. Ten minutes from the start, a miskick by King, who left his goal to meet the advancing right wing, cost Aberdeen a goal. Johnston kicked the ball over King's head, and although Hannah hooked it out before it reached the ground, it was 6 inches over the line in the air, and the referee, despite the angry yelling of the crowd, did perfectly right in awarding a goal. After this reverse, the Aberdonians put on a spurt, and Kelly was lucky in blocking a hard drive by McKenzie. Then Hampton saved smartly, fisting over, and conceding a corner. Hampton had to fist away two dangerous shots before the Motherwell forwards could transfer play, Motherwell scored their second goal after running through the Aberdeen defence with ridiculous ease. Johnston tricked Low, and sent over a well-judged cross, which left Hill with nothing to do but tipped the ball into the net, King making a feeble effort to save. The referee again aroused the ire of the crowd by giving an ordinary free kick for deliberate handling by a Motherwell defender inside the penalty line. The ground team struggled hard to get the ball into the Motherwell goal, but were held at every point by a strong, reliable sets of defenders.

The second half was much better contested than the first, the Aberdeen half-backs, and Moffat in particular, not only holding the Motherwell forwards in check, but feeding the forwards with excellent judgment. As the result, the attacks of the Aberdeen forwards were not only frequent, but were dangerous to the Motherwell defence, although there were several clearing misses which gave the crowd some reason for jeering. McKenzie and Towns both missed an easy cross with an open goal. King saved twice, but he was not so severely tried as Hampton, who had great difficulty in getting down to and scraping round the post a fast grounder from the right. Aberdeen got their first goal from a penalty kick awarded for alleged handling by Sneddon - a very doubtful decision. Moffat took the kick, and Hampton fisted down the ball, only to have the mortification of being beaten by Edgar, who rushed in and banged the ball into the net. During the remainder of the game the Motherwell defence had a strenuous time, and they were fairly beaten when Aberdeen got their second goal, McKenzie netting from a clever pass from Hay.

Source: Aberdeen Daily Journal, 10th January 1910

Lennie, who received an injury while playing against Partick Thistle, aggravated the knee trouble in his benefit the day following, and was unable to travel to Motherwell. Wilson was also in the wars and had to stand down at the last minute.

If the spectators did not get value for their money in football at Pittodrie, they learned a few wrinkles of how to referee a game. It was quite evident that the importance of the occasion was too big for the whistle-blower, as he completely lost control of the game, and damaged his reputation.

Source: Bon-Accord, 13th January 1910