Banks o’ Dee 2 Aberdeen Emerging Talent Squad 1
KDM Evolution Trophy
Spain Park
Tuesday 22 September, 19.45

Aberdeen’s Emerging Talent squad suffered their first defeat of this season’s KDM Evolution Trophy after going down 2-1 to Banks o’ Dee at Spain Park.

There was a first appearance in red for Hicham Mahou, while Emmanuel Gyamfi made a return following injury. There was another outing for Ante Palaversa, who started the previous fixture against Ross County in Dingwall, with Zak To handed the captain’s armband.

The Dons made a strong start and dominated the first half, Joseph Teasdale giving them a deserved advantage at the break.

Dee, who are seventh in the Highland League table, emerged strongly at the start of the second half and turned the tie around courtesy of a quickfire double from Lachie MacLeod.

Despite the home side being reduced to 10 men when Zack Stephen was dismissed, Dee held on to inflict the Dons’ first defeat of the competition.

Aberdeen remain on seven points from their opening four games, with two fixtures remaining in the group stage.

The Dons made a bright start, with Mahou close to making it a dream first outing on three minutes when he latched on to a cleverly lofted ball through from Palaversa to run through on goal, with his powerful shot tipped over by Matthew Duncan.

Mahou took the resulting corner which was bundled goalwards by Joel Okhuoya, who was unable to get enough of a connection on the ball to trouble the goalkeeper.

Joseph Teasdale did well to close down a clearance from Duncan on 13 minutes, but the angle was too narrow for the forward to find the target.

Teasdale was not to be denied on 20 minutes however. The goal came following good work from Aaron Cummings to hold off his marker and reach the byline, before driving a low ball across goal which left Teasdale with the simplest of tap-ins from close-range.

It was no more than the Dons deserved following a dominant start to the game, with Cummings next to threaten with a shot which was blocked after latching on to a cutback from Mahou on 26 minutes.

To was presented with a fine chance on 37 minutes after being played in by another slick pass by Palaversa, however Duncan was off his line quickly to make a strong block.

Dee’s only major chance of the opening half came six minutes before the break when MacLeod struck towards the far corner with a low effort, with Dylan Ross getting enough of a block to help divert the ball wide.

Half-time: Banks o’ Dee 0-1 Aberdeen.

The Dons made a change at half-time, with Gyamfi coming off following his first outing of the season, and replaced by Jamie Mercer.

Dee started the second half brightly, and came close three minutes after the interval when Grady McGrath swivelled on the edge of the box before shooting just wide.

The home side did pull level on 50 minutes however, when MacLeod was slipped in behind the Aberdeen backline before applying a neat finish beyond Rodrigo Vitols.

The young Dons pushed to regain their lead, with Mahou clipping the crossbar with a far post header from Jack Searle’s delivery.

It was Dee who turned the game on its head on the hour mark however, with MacLeod once again latching on to a through ball before showing good strength to burst into the box and fire an unstoppable effort past Vitols.

The Dons were handed a numerical advantage on 71 minutes, when Dee defender Stephen was shown a second yellow card for bringing down Searle.

Aberdeen piled on the pressure in the latter stages, with substitute Bradley Chikomo shooting over from close-range, while Lewis Carrol had the ball in the net in stoppage time only to be denied by an offside flag as the 10 man hosts held on.

Full-time: Banks o’ Dee 2-1 Aberdeen

Reaction from Stuart Duff

“We look at the game as 90 minutes, and we could have come in at half-time with quite a convincing lead.

“We played some terrific stuff in the first half. It’s just about having that little bit of ruthlessness in the final third and taking our opportunities.

“Ultimately that’s football – if you don’t take your chances you leave yourselves open.

“It’s a good learning curve for some of these younger players. The positive was to get some first team guys some minutes after coming back from injury, and Hicham coming in as a new signing.

“We will look at the collective aspect of it. We are very disappointed to lose, let’s not take anything away from that. But let’s not take anything away from Banks o’ Dee who stuck to their gameplan and caused us a few problems in the second half.

“It gives us something to rectify, and things that we need to be a bit cleaner with that we can aim towards and develop with the boys.

“Those opportunities don’t come up if the game is a bit more out of sight in the first half, but that’s all ifs, buts and maybes.

“We were in a position where we were in complete control of the game, but Banks o’ Dee came and asked questions of the backline that we didn’t answer.

“We will look back at the game, we will sit down with all the individuals and go through their positional play – between things they did well and things they need to improve on.

“That’s ultimately what we will take from this game. Of course we want to progress in this competition, but that’s certainly not the be all and end all.

“Cove on Saturday brings a different kind of approach. They are a really top quality side, very similar to what we played up at Ross County.

“It’s a real tough challenge that we will take head on, it will be another brilliant experience and opportunity for the players to showcase what good players they are.

“I think they let themselves down as a collective tonight, but they are lucky they have another game coming up so quickly.”

STATS:

Aberdeen: 41. Vitols, 2. Okhuoya (Chikomo 81’), 3. Ross, 4. Carrol, 7. Mahou (McLean 73’), 8. Cummings, 9. Teasdale (Duncan 81’), 10. To ©, 11. Searle, 17. Gyamfi (Mercer 46’), 18. Palaversa.

Subs: 20. Waldron, 5. Mercer, 12. Duncan, 15. Chikomo, 16. McLean, 23. Pocklington, 25. Phillips.

Goal: Teasdale 20’

Banks o’ Dee: 1. Duncan, 2. Lorimer, 3. Stephen, 4. Davidson, 5. Farquhar, 6. Pugh ©, 7. Watson (Stark 73’), 8. Phillipson, 9. McGrath (H MacLeod 81’), 10. L MacLeod, 11. Duell.

Subs: 13. Robertson, 12. H MacLeod, 14. Stark, 15. McHattie, 16. Hoban.

Goals: MacLeod 50’, 60’

Bookings: Watson 42’, Stephen 64’, 71’, Lorimer 85’, Farquhar 86’

Red card: Stephen 71’