As starts go for new managers, beating a club record that has been in situ since 1977 is not a bad way to kick things off and the Dons’ 2-1 win over St. Johnstone on Monday night sees Jimmy Thelin become the first Aberdeen manager to win his first five competitive games.
The cynic would suggest that, of course, those results have been somewhat padded out via the League Cup group stage but, nevertheless, it’s been a positive start to the Swede’s time in Scotland.
Thelin has extolled the virtues of patience among the Aberdeen support since arriving in the summer with a key focus on repeating the message that this is a three-year project and, in the main, the Red Army has appeared to buy in to this mantra.
That said, football is littered with plenty of “projects” which are abandoned at the first sign of trouble and so Thelin will no doubt be relieved to have got off to a winning start from which he can build from.
Aberdeen’s first half performance in Perth was exceptional and it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to suggest that they should’ve been four or five goals up going in at the break.
Bojan Miovski’s return helped to mitigate the loss of Leighton Clarkson through injury as the Dons ran riot. Miovski’s attitude since returning from the summer break has been exemplary – there’s a certain Cape Verdean attacker who would do well to take a leaf out of Miovski’s book…
As has been the case in all of Thelin’s games so far, this wasn’t a complete performance.
Saints came more and more into the game as the second half wore on and Jamie McGrath’s goal following an exquisite passing move arrived at a timely moment in the game but, even then, Aberdeen’s threadbare squad began to show as substitutions took place with a noticeable drop off in quality.
Sivert Heltne Nilsen and Graeme Shinnie were excellent in the opening four, but began to tire as the game wore on – oh for the legs of Dante Polvara to be available…
Gavin Molloy’s unfortunate own-goal took the shine off a decent first outing in the Premiership for the Irishman and made the final ten minutes of the game a lot nervier than it should’ve been, but Thelin’s side dug in to take the points – a first opening day win away from Pittodrie since 2015 and all eyes move towards the visit of the Paisley Saints to Pittodrie on Sunday in what will, likely, prove to be a stiffer examination of the Dons’ credentials.
Gary Scott can be found on the ABZ Football Podcast
Jimmy Thelin,League Cup,the Dons,Aberdeen support,Leighton Clarkson,Graeme Shinnie,Bojan Miovski,Jamie McGrath
