It was hard to miss the symbolism.
As a sheepish and visibly emotional Bojan Miovski was being thrust bodily onto his rightful stage to take a final bow in front of his adoring Red Shed fans, the ground staff were busy dismantling the goal between them, as if to indicate that it would no longer be required in his absence.
Rarely has he needed as much cajoling to enter the penalty box as he did at Sunday’s curtain call.
Miovski’s calm mastery of events inside that area has returned dividends dozens of times over these two seasons, and it is much to his credit that his uncommon proficiency in this job – one which can easily inflate egos to pricking point – has not noticeably interfered with his humility or deference to the primacy of the team.
For today, it is right to reflect on the contribution Miovski has made to the club and the extent to which it will be missed.
His goals have been many, but also varied: while he was often the man in the right place at the right time, he was just as likely to have created that place where it appeared none existed.
The collective will bridge the gap of the departed number nine
Miovski, among the better footballers employed at Pittodrie in recent seasons, has as good a chance as any of finding success in the years which lie ahead, and he goes with fond wishes.
But football being what it is, from tomorrow the focus will shift to Aberdeen’s own future and how the gap will be filled.
Experience tells us it will.
Just as once it was the goals of Adam Rooney feared lost until the shock emergence of Sam Cosgrove; then Cosgrove’s, eventually replaced by Christian Ramirez; then Miovski supplanting them all: so now will the scoresheet be filled by others.
The plural is likely apposite.
Jimmy Thelin’s playing philosophy subverts the historic Scottish football norm of feeding a single striker to convert the chances, instead delivering all non-defensive options into the action area when the final pass is being picked.
Though some of the hefty Miovski harvest may be re-sown into a new centre forward – if it is not to be a straight promotion for Ester Sokler – it is reasonable to assume that the Dons’ top scorer will net significantly fewer this season than last.
But the team as a whole will register more.
There is more than one way to skin a Premiership defence, and ones which rely on the system should, by definition, be more repeatable than those dependent on individual brilliance.
Aberdeen’s North Macedonian standard-bearer frequently shone the only rays of hope into its skies of red so it is sad he will not be here to bask in it, but the new sun dawning promises bright days ahead.
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