DONS MUGGED AGAIN

 

 

Last time round, Aberdeen faced Celtic at Pittodrie in the Scottish Cup quarter finals. It seemed like mission impossible, and yet the Dons nearly looked like pulling off an upset untill the Celts grabbed themselves the latest of equalisers. That left the Dons hanging on for a replay at Celtic Park. There were little grounds for optimism, surely the Reds had blown their chances in the original tie. And yet Jimmy Calderwood's men had other ideas - the Dons managed to come up with a 1-0 win! It was another brilliant result from last season that left the Reds dreaming of Cup succsess, only to get caught on an off day in the semis, they'd have to try again the following year.

This time around, the Dons round up facing Dunfirmline. Well untill recently, the two sides were regular SPL foes, with the Dons generally getting the better of those encounters. Their last non-league encounter was a Scottish League Cup tie in 92/93, in which Willie Miller's side got the better of the Pars. The last time the two sides faced each other in the Scottish Cup was in a third round tie in 1988/89, a 0-0 draw at East End Park leading to a 1-0 Dons win in a replay at Pittodrie. The two sides have never faced each other in the last 8 but Dunfirmline do have some history in the competition, having won it twice in the 1960s, the first time with a young Jock Stein as manager!

This time around, well the Pars are now an SD1 side and an iffy one at that, so drawing them looked to be the best case scenario for the Dons...and yet the Red were originally held to a 1-1 draw at East End Park. That forced the Dons into a Scottish Cup quarter final replay at Pittodrie. Surely the Reds would give the lower division side a reality check on home turf. Even on their current inconsistant form. Well Jimmy Calderwood was nervous about complacency as the Reds went 4-4-2. Langfield in goal, Foster right back, Lee Mair and Diamond central defence, Charlie Mulgrew left back, Jamie Smith right mid, Severin(captain) and Kerr centre mid, Aluko left mid and Maguire and Mackie up front.

Well the opening minutes of the game were pretty messy but in the early stages the Dons looked to have the edge overall. That was untill the Dunfirmline defence started acting like a brick wall, as Jimmy expected, the Dons would need to find their A game to win this match, and Steven Bell's effort at the other end proved that the visiting attackers couldn't be discounted either. The Dons certainly had their share of chances but weren't able to do anything with them. The half time whistle sounded with boos in the background from the Dons fans - that pretty much said it all! This was turning into a microcosm of the Dons season so far, Dons fans expected better.

The Dons had some good attacking opprtunities again early in the second half but still, they were nothing that the opposition weren't able to smother. On two occasions though the Dons should have had a penalty, and yet the ref did nothing. Jimmy tried throwing on some freshh legs but that didn't solve his team's problems, mainly a lack of bite and two many high and long balls. Dunfirmline came up with a good chance of their own late on but in the closing minutes it looked to be the Dons who's have the last word and Aluko really should have scored just before the final whistle! Still, the tie was forced into extra time and there were more boos from the crowd.

The Dons really tried stepping it up in the first half of extra time but tiredness was affecting that and that does not make for accurate shotting ability. One of the Dons found themselves yellow carded and the home at this point was that one of the Dumfirmline side, mainly veterans, including 90s Dons player Stephen Glass, were surely going to run out of fuel and leave a gap for the Dons to exploit. And yet the Dons couldn't find the net. Dunfirmline were starting to fold in terms of attacking ability and were playing for pens but the Reds just didn't know how to make them pay. The first half of extra time ended with the tie looking nowhere near over.

With one last period of normal football to be played, Jimmy decided to give Wright a go, it didn't look like that bad an idea, the attacking was all done by the Reds and it seemed as though it would only be a matter of time before the Pittodrie crowd would be cheering at last. And yet the football was still messy with some easy chances being missed due to what must only have beeen exhaustion. The Dons were the only side that really wanted to win this game with any degree of class and yet they couldn't. The Pars had their wishes of a penalty shootout granted, cue even more boos from the Dons and I had to admit, it really shouldn't have come to this.

So, we then had a penalty shootout to deal with. Well the Dons started it in the right way with substitute Stuart Duff scoring, Dunfirmline levelling through Glass. And then disaster, Severin of all people had his kick saved. Calum Woods took care of business for the Pars. Mulgrew hit the net to make sure the Dons stayed in the contest. Alex Burke scored for Dunfirmline. Foster had his shot saved. And then Graham Bayne struck for the Pars and what will go down as a night to remember for the SD1 side can only be filed down as a 'not' again moment by the Dons who now have only the SPL to play for and are garunteed not to pick up any trophies this decade!

So, that leaves the semi final lineup looking like this. Rangers(second Scottish Cup semi final in a row) will face St Mirren(first semi final since 1987!) at Hampden Park. Well the Buddies may have seen off one of the Old firm in the quarters but lightning is unlikely to strike twice, Rangers to go through here. You've then got Falkrik(first semi since '98) going up against SD1 Dunfirmline(first semi since '07) also at Hampden. Safe bet says that Falkirk will pull that one off. Which would leave Rangers and Falkirk returning to Hampden for an all-SPL final. Rangers are the safe bet to collect what may well be their only trophy of the season on that day.

South of the border, there was some FA Cup quarter final business to tidy up. Arsenal faced Hull at the Emirates Stadium. Nicky Barmby opened the scoring for Hull, the former Spurs assasin's actions probably not making the Gunners fans too happy. However the home side proved to be by far the better team overall and turned the game round with goals from Robin van Persie and William Gallas to reach the semi finals for the first time since '05. That puts three Champions League teams in the FA Cup semi finals, making it a much stronger lineup than last year and fans can only hope that that'll translate into quality action at Wembley in the latter stages of the season.

 

The UEFA Cup 2nd knockout round 2nd leg games also took place and Man City faced Aab Aalborg at the Energi Nord Arena. Well there certainly wasn't much energy in this match. Neither side looked like putting much effort in and while the Aalborg fans were cheering they must have hoped that their side would wake up. They did that in the second half but as the clocked ticked down they still didn't look like doing anything about the Premiership side...untill Luton Shelton and Michael Jakobsen suddenly won the game for them! It wasn't enough to win the tie though but with the aggregate score now at 2-2 and level on away goal, it was enough to force extra time.

And in extra time, City didn't look like coming up with the goods. Both sides looked knackered but it was the Danish side that looked more likely to score. Surely Mark Hughes's side weren't going to collapse at this late stage? Still Aalborg had the more attacking play, City unable to get out of the cruise mode they'd started the game in, they surely weren't playing for penalties but they were certainly running out of ideas and in the end, penalties it was. City finally found some spark in the shootout though, Shay Given making the decisive save allowing his team to win the ultime footballing test of nerve 4-3 and secure a Premiership presence in the quarter finals.

The Champions League quarter final draw has eventually been made and United face Porto with the first leg at Old Trafford. Porto's certainly a team who have mixed history with us but to be perfectly honest, I'd have been happy drawing them in the first knockout round! Drawing them in the quarter finals was really our best case scenario. They may be currently leading the top flight but the vibes I'm getting are more along the lines that history will repeat itself and we will trounce them like we did back in '97 back when Premiership teams were still expected to bow down to major continental opposition. United's spot in the semis is pretty much secure.

As for the other Premiership sides, well the obvious tie that stands out is the fact that Liverpool will face Chelsea, again! This time around the first leg is at Anfield and I expect it to be a seriously tight encounter. I'm going to call it as a Chelsea win but that would be guessing. Arsenal are going to be facing Villarreal with the first leg at the Estadio El Madrigal. Villarreal are well known for being a stubborn side and I don't expect this tie to be straightforward either. The fact that this isn't a vintage season for the Gunners does make me worried for Arsene Wenger's men though. Overall though, at least two Premiership sides are likely to make the semis. Not so bad.

The UEFA Cup quarter finals draw has also been made and Man City are up against Hamburg with the first leg at the Nordbank Arena. Well this is certainly a tough tie for City but they can't have expected anything else at this stage. Hamburg are currently 4th in the Bundesliga and managed by former Spurs gaffer Martin Jol. Worryingly for Mark Hughes, Jol's crew defeated Villa in the group stages of this tournament and a full strength Villa team are a tougher prospect than City right now. I do hope than City can deliver on this occasion but my instinct says that after a great run, City might well get a reality check here.

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