Anyone who has ever wondered why pivotal league fixtures are referred to as “six-pointers” can inspect Aberdeen’s position in the Premiership table for evidence.
For sickeningly lengthy periods of Saturday’s match with 11th-placed Ross County, particularly the first half, fans of Aberdeen – 10th at the start of the afternoon – grown used to the hand of fate slapping their team in the face will have been steeling themselves for seeing their points tally equalled by the side below the dotted line.
But when the critical, tie-breaking goal finally came from Jamie McGrath, its joyous result was to propel the Dons two whole wins clear of the play-off zone.
Not yet a decisive move, but a highly significant one for a team whose direction of travel had become shockingly one-way.
It seems that those who reckoned they could not see Aberdeen winning another game were simply not looking in the right places. Places such as the number 7 jersey.
It is a garment once inhabited by the sumptuous Kenny McLean, and there is more than a passing similarity between the prolific linkman past and his present successor.
McGrath, like McLean before him, has taken a little time to make it obvious what specific role inspired Aberdeen’s lengthy pursuit. He has felt much more peripheral than should be possible for a 10-goal midfielder.
But that has often been because, spatially speaking, that’s exactly what he has been. Instead of being the central playmaker, ghosting into the box to such devastating effect as here, he has spent too much of the season in wider areas – a sacrificial victim of poor squad construction.
With a manager on his wavelength, a summer to sign actual wingers, and the seemingly inevitable departure of Connor Barron, McGrath may come more into his own next season in a better-balanced team.
Considering what he has already contributed this term, that’s a lot to look forward to.
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