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Duncan Shearer: I can’t believe it’s 25 years since we gave our all to save Aberdeen from relegation

Duncan Shearer challenges Dunfermline goalkeeper Guido van de Kamp in the 3-1 relegation play-off first leg win.
Duncan Shearer challenges Dunfermline goalkeeper Guido van de Kamp in the 3-1 relegation play-off first leg win.

I can’t believe yesterday was 25 years since Aberdeen’s relegation play-off victory against Dunfermline.

We had a squad that should have finished in the top four of the league, but it just didn’t work out that season for one reason or another.

We had to win four of our final five games to avoid automatic relegation and I always fancied our chances of overcoming Dunfermline over two legs.

No player would set out to be involved in a relegation play-off, but they were actually two great games to be involved in.

Pittodrie was a 21,000 sell-out for the first game and, thankfully, I managed to play my part by scoring two as we won 3-1.

There was a lot of pressure prior to the game and we didn’t know a lot about Dunfermline as they weren’t in our division.

I remember sitting in the changing room before the game waiting for the referee to ring the bell for both teams to go out.

That is the only time I really felt the pressure. As soon as that bell went and I was out on the pitch, I just switched on and focused on the task at hand.

We knew they had some good players but our fans really played their part. They knew how important the game was and I think the support we received from them really made the difference. It would have been easy for them to turn after a poor season, but they stuck by us.

And victory by the same scoreline at East End Park ensured that we remained in the top flight.

I remember going down to Dunfermline on what was a really hot day. We were heading to the game on the bus and about a mile from the ground we saw hundreds of Aberdeen fans sitting and standing outside the pubs.

They all looked very relaxed and were enjoying the occasion, which made all of us relaxed.

We were confident going there because we had built up that two-goal lead and we knew if we scored again it would kill the tie.

Duncan’s former Aberdeen team-mate Alex McLeish is the guest on this week’s Northern Goal podcast. Listen here:

They had a mountain to climb and, thankfully, we managed to produce another convincing display. It was just a shame we hadn’t played like that all season because we would have finished much higher up the table.

I still don’t really understand why we struggled so much that season – we had a talented squad. It was as if the team suddenly woke up with half a dozen games to go and realised what was at stake.

But getting through those two matches and keeping the Dons up is a nice memory.

You could see how much it meant to the fans and we hadn’t given them much to shout about over the course of the campaign.

Thankfully we managed to sign off for the season on a positive note.

Have you seen our recent reader Q&A with Dons legend Duncan Shearer?