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Aberdeen pre-season preparations conclude with victory over St Johnstone

Adam Rooney celebrates his goal with David Goodwillie
Adam Rooney celebrates his goal with David Goodwillie

The rehearsals are over and now it is time for Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes and his new cast to show they are ready for their opening night.

Two games and two weeks of preparation is all McInnes and his players have had for their return to Europe this week but, on the basis of their run-through against fellow European qualifiers St Johnstone yesterday, the players know the script.

The grit and determination is there, as it is with the Saints, as Scotland looks to these two teams to get the new campaign off to a positive start.

The meeting of two Premiership sides for pre-season is uncommon but, with both the Dons and the Saints returning to competitive action in the first round of the Europa League on Thursday, playing each other as a build-up made perfect sense.

But there was no hiding it – this was the footballing equivalent of a boxing sparring match.

Adam Rooney and Tam Scobie exchange views
Adam Rooney and Tam Scobie exchange views

It was a solid workout in which both sets of players could work up a sweat but they held back from releasing the big punches.

The heavyweight contests which matter for these two teams will be in Macedonia and in Armenia.

McInnes and his squad head for Skopje on Wednesday to face KF Shkendija in their first qualifying round, first-leg meeting, with Tommy Wright’s Saints flying to Yerevan tomorrow to prepare for their match against Alashkert.

The onus yesterday was on getting through a competitive 90 minutes with no injuries and it was mission accomplished on that front after the game at Brechin City’s Glebe Park.

Attacker Niall McGinn, who returned to the club for pre-season training only last Wednesday, started the game for the Dons, with Graeme Shinnie playing for an hour in a central midfield role alongside new captain Ryan Jack.

Adam Rooney led the line in the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation favoured by the Dons manager.

Aberdeen started brightly, forcing a couple of corners, but Dons vice-captain Mark Reynolds almost undid the promising opening when he was short with his header back to goalkeeper Scott Brown, letting in John Sutton. But Sutton’s effort was saved by Brown.

New Dons goalkeeper Danny Ward made his debut from the bench
New Dons goalkeeper Danny Ward made his debut from the bench

That early chance apart, there was little to trouble either goalkeeper despite the best efforts of the impressive Shinnie, who broke up play when required, leading to a lecture from official Andrew Dallas to calm down after making two tough, but perfectly legal, challenges.

When he was not playing the role of enforcer, former Caley Thistle captain Shinnie displayed his passing prowess.

He constantly built play from the back with a mixture of short, crisp passes and, on one occasion, a sublime 50-yard crossfield pass which sent Rooney clear down the right flank.

It is clear even after only a couple of bounce games that Shinnie’s versatility is going to make him a valuable addition to the Aberdeen manager’s options.

Danny Ward, the new goalkeeper loan signing from Liverpool, replaced Brown at the interval for his debut.

While Ward had little to do in terms of shot-stopping, the Wales under-21 international showed he is going to be a sweeper goalkeeper and he proved adept, getting height and distance on his clearances in a measured and mature debut.

Aberdeen had been miserly in defence but they finished the match strongly.

Rooney showed the first threat when he shrugged off the attention of Saints central defender Brad McKay before firing in a low shot which Alan Mannus did well to keep out.

But within a minute, the Dons had their breakthrough when McGinn’s run along the penalty area was brought to an end by Liam Caddis, who tripped the Northern Irishman.

There was no disputing the penalty and Rooney stepped up to send Mannus the wrong way for his fourth goal at Glebe Park this week.