When teams are struggling, the saying goes that they need a goal off someone’s backside to get their fortunes back on track.
So it speaks to how grim Aberdeen’s luck has been that what, to the naked eye, looked uncontroversially like the kick-starter of the Dons’ year was nixed by that very protuberance.
With apologies to Duk for the ungallantly anatomical analysis, his rear end is normally quite the asset: a formidable barrier aiding the Aberdeen attacker in his protection of possession.
But here his derriere was his downfall, poking through St Johnstone’s defensive line to turn an apparently well-worked set-piece opener into the most marginal of offsides.
The call was as tight as a Duk’s behind, and the match became so too as the minutes ticked by afterwards.
Aberdeen persevered in their pursuit
Suddenly grown confused as to how to generate results, it is to Aberdeen’s credit that they kept pushing at the door and eventually, thanks to Duk’s power and Vicente Besuijen’s deftness, forced it in.
If there were any doubt that Aberdeen would, at the least, persevere in their pursuit, it was banished the moment Graeme Shinnie pulled their colours back on.
Shinnie remains a dynamic, indefatigable presence at the team’s heart, the only noticeable sign of the years which have passed since he left Pittodrie in his greatly expanded beard.
The look of genuine pleasure on the face of his late replacement Connor Barron – the one person who stands to directly lose from Shinnie’s return in the form of game time – reflected the almost universal delight at his homecoming.
In due course it may become sticky for the vulnerable Anthony Stewart that one who previously captained the side with such aplomb is lining up in front of him with an unbanded bicep; meantime his drive cannot help but pull everyone else along.
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