Hibernian vs Aberdeen. Scottish Premiership.
Easter Road.
Match report as Aberdeen move into fourth after winning three successive Scottish Premiership games
Sunday 30 August 2020 20:33, UK
Lewis Ferguson's first-half penalty condemned Hibernian to their first defeat of season as they lost 1-0 to Aberdeen at Easter Road.
Hibs' last defeat had also come against Aberdeen in March - the final game played before the suspension of the Scottish Premiership season - although they had their pre-match preparations interrupted when they were unable to train on Saturday.
It came after a player returned a positive Covid-19 test on Friday, which later turned out to be a false positive from midfielder Alex Gogic, who missed the game due to self-isolation.
Ferguson's winner was his third goal in three games, coming after a clumsy challenge from Martin Boyle which caught the shins of Marley Watkins. Ferguson then dispatched confidently past Ofir Marciano to extend Aberdeen's winning run to four games in all competitions.
The Dons have now catapulted up the table from eighth into fourth on nine points - one behind Celtic in third after their 3-0 win against Motherwell earlier on Sunday - while Hibernian keep their spot in second behind Rangers.
After he almost allowed Hibernian an early goal with a clumsy spill, Aberdeen captain Joe Lewis soon made up for it with some vital saves. The first was from a fierce Josh Doig drive after Aberdeen cleared a corner, before a fine Boyle effort went straight at the goalkeeper. Drey Wright had done well to switch the play to the other flank to find Boyle in the build-up.
Marciano also had some action at the other end. It was a wonderful one-two between Ryan Hedges and Scott Wright, with the latter feeding the run of his team-mate into the area. Hedges then tried to place his shot but Marciano was down low to smother the effort.
The battle of the goalkeepers continued as the half went on. Lewis made an unusual save after the half-hour mark, flicking a loose ball into the air with his fingertips before catching it as Christian Doidge lurked. Marciano then produced a sensational stop as Watkins hammered a shot his way, but the Hibs goalkeeper made an acrobatic, leaping save.
Aberdeen went ahead when they were awarded a penalty in the 38th minute. A poor tackle from Boyle caught Watkins cleanly on the shins and there could be no qualms about the penalty claim. Having also scored from the spot against Livingston last weekend, Ferguson dispatched empathically past Marciano to see Hibernian go behind for the first time this season.
Aberdeen continued to dominate after the break and had a few half chances. Matt Kennedy almost added a quick second but his strike went straight into Marciano's hands before Scott McKenna fired a header over the crossbar.
Hibernian did not have many chances after the opening exchanges but should have done better with a clear-cut opening in the 62nd minute. A superb forward pass from Paul McGinn cut out the Aberdeen defence and picked out the run of Wright into the area. He then fizzed a cross through the area but no one was able to connect, having been in a good position to take on the shot himself.
Hibernian tried to find the equaliser as the game continued, but it was Aberdeen who created the better chances. Late in the game, Curtis Main darted across the top of the area before striking, but it went straight at the goalkeeper. Marciano was far more acrobatic not long after, though, as Dylan McGeouch fired his way, but the Hibs goalkeeper made a leaping save to see the effort away.
There were some good performances all across the pitch from Aberdeen on Sunday, but McCrorie was the unheralded star of the show.
Of the players who started the game, he had the best passing accuracy of 87.8 per cent and made 35 good passes or crosses. He was also involved in 24 duels - the most of the Aberdeen side - with a huge five tackles made while gaining possession 13 times.
Credit must also go to Ferguson and Hedges, who both impressed with their overall play, but McCrorie's contribution cannot be understated.
Speaking about McCrorie, Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes told Sky Sports: "How good is he? He's a dream, he's a Rolls Royce of a boy. He's going to get better with games, you can just see that. His career has been stop-start, a lot of players leave the Old Firm and think it is all downhill but not for this boy. He's going to go far and I'm delighted we managed to get him."
Hibernian manager Jack Ross: "We're disappointed to lose and for the first time this season. I actually, though, thought the first half was the best we had played in a couple of weeks in terms of how much we created. There's no qualms over the penalty, obviously, and then I think there's an onus on us being at home to push. We did push but didn't create as much as we had done in the first half.
"So it's frustrating in that respect but I can't question the players' effort or commitment to try and get something from the game. I said beforehand that if we won today, it would be an excellent start, but it's still been a very good start to the season for us.
"[In the second half] I don't think we could have done anything else in terms of personnel, we had every attack-minded player available to us on the pitch at the end of the game. But this little break coming up allows us to reflect on what we've done well and what we need to improve upon. Certainly from a defensive aspect, we've made big strides and that's given us a platform to start the season the way we have done.
"At the top end of the pitch, I think we can be better. Some players individually can be better and they understand that. It's something that gives us a couple of weeks to improve upon and it will come because there is undoubted quality there, but certainly today I felt that we got into good areas, especially in the first half, but we need to be more clinical and ruthless in those parts of the pitch."
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "It was a very tight match as we expected. It was two teams playing the same system more or less, fighting for every inch. I felt like we have enough speed in the team and we wanted to try and bring that speed and when we did get into their final third, I thought that could be important for us.
"On a few occasions, we could have just taken care of that last pass, we had plenty of shots on target which pleased me, but I still thought we were a bit scruffy with that last bit of action.
"But I thought the speed and intensity of the press was good, none more so than the penalty. Marley doesn't give it up, we've spoken about trying to keep teams in their own box and around the area. He gets his reward for it and Fergie tucks the penalty away.
"A good three points and it finishes off a good little spell for us."
The Scottish Premiership is back in action in two weeks' time as the league halts for the international break. Hibernian will travel to St Mirren on Saturday September 12 (kick-off 3pm), while Aberdeen will host Kilmarnock on the same day (kick-off 3pm).
