It was fast, furious and fiery as Aberdeen came from behind to win 2-1 in an explosive New Year’s Day derby against Dundee United at Tannadice yesterday.
The new year is packed with promise for the Dons faithful, with a League Cup semi-final against St Johnstone to look forward to as well as a Scottish Cup tie at Celtic and a strong enough squad to sustain a challenge near the top end of the table and break with the bottom-six finishes.
Derek McInnes’s Reds have made impressive progress during the first half of the season and this was another difficult test successfully negotiated in an action-packed contest.
John Souttar profited from a Jamie Langfield error to give United the lead after the break but Barry Robson was coolness personified as he netted from the penalty spot before Peter Pawlett headed home the winner in the final minute of a bruising match, which referee Willie Collum struggled to control.
The Dons won five of their six matches in December and descended on a rainy Tayside full of confidence to face their north-east rivals and likely contenders to finish best of the rest behind Celtic.
Dundee United had won their previous seven matches at Tannadice. They have not won eight home games in a row since 1983. But they went into this match on the back of a 4-1 defeat at St Mirren and a 3-0 loss to rivals St Johnstone.
United made eight changes for that trip to Perth and yesterday they adjusted their line-up once again, with their talented young players Ryan Gauld, Stuart Armstrong, Souttar and Gary Mackay-Steven all returning to the fold among seven alterations.
It was a sizzling atmosphere inside a sold-out Tannadice, with more than 3,700 Dons supporters making the journey down the A90 to cheer on their team.
With Clark Robertson and Andrew Considine absent through injury, Jonny Hayes was once again deployed as a makeshift left-back with the attacking triumvirate of Robson, Niall McGinn and Pawlett tasked with providing the ammunition for Scott Vernon.
As is so often the case in derby matches, it was an unsurprisingly nervy and frantic start from both sides.
Former United player Willo Flood was on the receiving end of plenty of vitriol from the home support and the Irishman made his afternoon even more tricky by picking up a caution after only 16 minutes with a late challenge on Mackay-Steven.
The Dons midfielder was possibly a mite fortunate to escape a second caution a minute later for another late trip, this time on Paul Paton.
It took almost 24 minutes for the game to offer the first meaningful effort on goal and it was the hosts who almost drew first blood when Nadir Ciftci skipped past two challenges but his eventual effort deflected kindly into the arms of Jamie Langfield. Aberdeen’s best opportunity of the first half saw Pawlett nearly capitalise on some slack United defending when he pick-pocketed possession from Gavin Gunning before drawing a fine save from Radoslaw Cierzniak.
United left back Andrew Robertson’s powerful strike was deflected wide for a fruitless corner as a frenetic first period came to a close.
The Dons almost made the perfect start to the second half but Pawlett was denied by a brave block by Gunning before the Dons attacker prompted Cierzniak into an excellent instinctive stop from the resulting corner.
It was United who broke the deadlock after 50 minutes when Langfield came and failed to connect with a Mark Wilson corner and Souttar steered the ball into the empty net.
United’s defensive midfielder Paton was lucky to receive only a booking for using an elbow to prevent Pawlett racing into space down the left flank before Josh Ma- gennis was introduced for Vernon.
Aberdeen’s ire intensified when Paton again escaped punishment for a lunging tackle on Pawlett, much to the fury of the visiting support.
However, the Red Army was celebrating in the 65th minute when Robson’s long ball forward in the direction of Magennis was handled by Robertson and Robson powered home the spot kick into the roof of the net to make it 1-1.
Michael Hector headed wide before McGinn was denied by another superb Czierniak stop as the Dons pushed for the winner.
The Dons’ second goal finally arrived in the final minute when Czierniak spilled a Robson free kick and Pawlett was on hand to nod the ball over the goal-line to send the tra- velling support into ecstasy.