Aberdeen snatched a draw from the jaws of victory as their set-piece fragility resurfaced at Ross County – to leave fans of both clubs stunned.
Fresh from conceding a late goal in the Premier Sports Cup from a corner at Annan in midweek, the Dons were punished again by County as they failed to deal with a long throw-in into their box.
The result was a scrambled equaliser from Staggies’ striker William Akio in the fifth minute of stoppage time to cancel out Luis Lopes’ goal for the Dons in the 88th minute.
The reaction from both sets of supporters was as you would expect given the circumstances.
LEARN TO DEFEND CORNERS MAN. THAT'S SO SOFT. Massive chance to go two ahead of Hearts and one behind Rangers, potential to go second next weekend. Thrown away because we can't deal with set-pieces into the box.
Joke.
— Solarr (@SolarrBoop) September 3, 2022
Embarrassment.
Defending is absolutely shambolic.
— Sam Taylor (@SamTaylor135) September 3, 2022
Derby fans warned us and he is doing exactly what they said – solid shot stopper and awful from cross balls. Joe not perfect but certainly better.
— Martin (@MWilson1903) September 3, 2022
While Aberdeen fans seethed, there was joy unconfined among the Staggies faithful.
Game of two halves! Aberdeen ‘won’ the first half, county the 2nd. Would have been gutted if we had lost 1v0, draw fair result all round. Need to start with the 11 who finished the game.
— Ian John Chapman (@ianjchappers) September 3, 2022
It was a similar story on Facebook.
Allan Lemon wrote: “A tight game not brilliant spectacle but once again loads of effort. Good effort and never say die. Decent home crowd and certainly nothing that should stop them coming back. Onwards and upwards.”
John Angus MacCusbic added: “Kept going to the last second. Fully deserved the point.”
One Staggies supporter believed the over-excited Dons fans who spilled on to the pitch after Duk’s goal were equally culpable for giving their side a chance to hit back.
Brian Shepherd wrote: “Cheers for the extra 5 minutes from the pitch invaders lol.”
Frustration at loss of goal does not detract from solid start for Aberdeen
Once Dons fans had calmed down following the loss of the late equaliser a sense of perspective from their side’s start to the campaign emerged.
Chris Low wrote: “If someone had said after 6 games we’d be 3rd and in league cup quarters after last year’s shambles then I’d have grabbed it.
“Brand new team, not going to gel straight away and what I’ve seen a lot of potential.
Some people never happy.”
Peter Cooper agreed. “Today was hard to take. But sitting 3rd and if we win next week at home we are 2nd.
“It’s slow progress building a team and will take another couple of windows to keep the rebuilding job going but it’s coming.
“Superb away support today yet again. Love my away days. Roll on next week.”
Louis Galloway wrote: “Everyone just needs to chill out, we have conceded 8 in 11 games (inc league cup) so far this season, Including 6 clean sheets.
“Attacking play has improved and of course there is more improvement needed, but we are in the first week of September!
“Defensive error let us down today yes, but overall we cannot be disappointed with 3rd in the league, league cup quarters and our striker is one of the tops scorers in the league.
“Bit of perspective needed.”
Always a disappointment to chuck away points at the death but there’s good signs from this team given the mass overhaul. Definitely playing better stuff than last year – just need to be a bit more clinical up front. Rest of the division looks poor again. Third there to be got.
— Red Point of View (@ARedPOV) September 3, 2022