A curious game.
Curious because Aberdeen ought to have accrued sufficient evidence to know exactly how to approach a fixture such as this, yet they spent almost the entire evening ignoring absolutely all of it.
Three times in the last six weeks have the Dons faced opponents who they would have fancied, for various reasons, to overpower – fourth-tier Stirling; ten-man St Mirren and Livingston – and on each occasion, they have done so in heavy measure. It has been based on a game plan driven by pace.
The majority of the 14 goals Aberdeen put on those foes were the direct result of moving the ball quickly, usually between more than two players. The swift and sudden changes in angle pulled tears in defences too lacking in numbers or experience to resist it.
And yet, this. The number of first-time passes attempted by players in red could genuinely be counted on one hand. Virtually every phase of Aberdeen play, in the first half at least, consisted of Liam Scales dribbling straight up the middle of the pitch, waiting in vain for one of the three attacking midfielders to emerge from hiding behind their markers.
In the end, the only thing that did for the Annan defence – aside from a brief period of torment by the ever-sparky Jonny Hayes, until he was hailed back into the left-back position in which his gifts are so frequently wasted – was time. Their bodies could ward off Aberdeen for 90 minutes, but not 120.
There is no particular shame in that for Aberdeen – it is the playing conditions of the tournament, after all – but no great credit either. They live to fight on in the quarter-finals, but there is not much more to say for it than that.