Aberdeen vs St. Johnstone. Scottish Premiership.
Pittodrie.
Report as Aberdeen come from behind to beat St Johnstone thanks to goals from Sam Cosgrove and Ash Taylor
Saturday 26 December 2020 21:02, UK
Aberdeen moved into third place in the Scottish Premiership as they came from behind to beat St Johnstone 2-1.
The visitors led through a Liam Gordon header, but Sam Cosgrove's penalty and a second-half strike from Ash Taylor turned the game around for the Dons, with Saints substitute Callum Hendry sent off in the 90th minute.
With a ferocious wind enveloping Pittodrie, it was the away side who seemed to adapt to the conditions despite the loss of full-back Scott Tanser to injury after just five minutes.
Callum Davidson's side certainly looked the more likely to score, even if they were largely restricted to speculative efforts from the edge of the box, though David Wotherspoon's 14th-minute shot worried Joe Lewis but ended up wide of the post.
Ali McCann put an effort past the left-hand upright in similar fashion after a Liam Craig corner, and Callum Booth also sent a shot wide from similar range.
When the goal eventually came, it was a set-piece that led to it. Craig sent a free-kick from the left to the back post where Gordon rose unchallenged to head goalward. It was almost slow motion as his header struck the ground and looped over Lewis.
Aberdeen had offered little in the final third, and it took until the 45th minute before Cosgrove forced a save from Zander Clark, who got down smartly to his left to turn a 20-yard strike past the post.
From the resultant corner, the Dons had a strong penalty claim turned down as Andrew Considine's shot was handled by Booth, but when Cosgrove went down under the challenge of Jamie McCart as the ball came back in, referee Alan Muir this time pointed to the spot.
Cosgrove claimed the ball from regular penalty-taker Lewis Ferguson, and coolly slotted into the bottom-left corner to level the scores.
That acted as a shot in the arm for the home side, who were much improved after the break, and went in front after 54 minutes.
Matty Kennedy's corner from the right hit a St Johnstone body and dropped at the feet of Taylor who stroked home from 10 yards.
From then on it was a battle of wills but Aberdeen are in the habit of holding onto a narrow lead and, aided by Hendry's late dismissal for two bookings, they did enough to take the points.
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "I'm as frustrated as Callum is going to be because I think it's such a soft penalty to be given, but the penalty should have been given for the handball before that.
"It was tough out there for both sets of players. There's no real enjoyment from the game, the enjoyment comes from the result, and it's about doing all you can to get the result.
"It's unfair to criticise the play when it's as wild as that. You see how hard the pitch is with the ball bouncing over Joe Lewis from that kind of distance. We created that goal for them with untidy play and a needless free-kick.
"We asked the boys at half-time to be a bit more pragmatic and we scored a set play ourselves, and I thought we were the better team in the second half. The players really responded and dug deep to get the win."
St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: "I'm baffled as to what the penalty was given for. There's no tug, no pull. If somebody falls to the floor in the box, for me it has to be a definite incident.
"We were comfortable in the game right up to that point, and it changes the game massively in Aberdeen's favour.
"The sending off was a sending off. He has already been booked and he goes in for the tackle. It's a bookable offence, so that's it.
"We have now lost players to sending offs in three successive games which is disappointing with Callum, Michael O'Halloran and Jason Kerr, and for me that's not good enough.
"The boys performed well in the first half, and disappointing for me is that we didn't really have sustained pressure in the second half.
"It's disappointing to lose games like that and we need to sort how we win those games that we're actually playing well in."
Aberdeen travel to Livingston on Wednesday; kick-off at 4pm. St Johnstone host Hamilton earlier on the same day; Kick-off at 3pm.
