Glasgow Rangers 2 - Aberdeen 0

Saturday 13th of November.

Aberdeen's season didn't get any better as they were on the receiving end of a 2-0 reverse in Glasgow.

The animosity between Aberdeen and Rangers is well documented. Since Aberdeen is the only team in the City they lack an inner-city rival like the Hibs vs Hearts (in Edinburgh) or the Dundee Utd vs Dundee games.

However, this is more than made up by our long running feud with Glasgow Rangers. A good article about that is here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20020120/ai_n9626457/ . There is so much bad blood between the teams that the Rangers fans (wrongly) claim that Aberdeen only play well when they are facing Rangers. I despise Rangers so much, ever since i was young.

It has been 19 years since Aberdeen last won against Rangers in Glasgow. It was on the 28th of September 1991. I was 5.

Anyway, onto the match. On the back of a 9-0 thumping by city rivals Celtic, Aberdeen entered the match looking more for damage limitation rather than a win.

Aberdeen set out with a 4-5-1 formation, very defensive and Rangers had many shots on target. So it was only a matter of time before Kenny Miller opened the scoring on the 21st minute with a header from a cross delivered by Weiss. Rangers increased their lead to 2 with Weiss scoring with a shot after a blocked shot by John Fleck.

Things looked like it was going from bad to worse on the 40th minute when Clark Robertson tackled Whittaker unfairly and gave away a penalty to Rangers. Kenny Miller stepped up looking to score his second goal of the game, however Jamie Langfield produced a fine save to keep the scoreline down. Langfield continued to make some fine saves as they kept the result to 2-0.

Not the greatest result but at least we didn't concede 9 goals this time.

Next blog will be on the Scotland vs Faeroe Islands game that i went to last Wednesday.

Aberdeen 1 - Inverness CT 2

Another disappointing result for Aberdeen as they lost to Inverness at home. The performance was much improved from the previous match (where they had lost 9-0) however the failure to get at least a point from the match put Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee's job under more threat.

Former Aberdeen player Ryan Esson had a great game in goal for Inverness.

Both teams had chances at the start to take the lead but it wasn't until the 34th minute that Inverness opened the scoring. Adam Rooney scored from the spot after Aberdeen FC player Folly was caught pushing Grant Munro to the ground in the box.

The question was asked if Aberdeen had enough determination to respond to going down 1-0 and that question was answered by substitute Velicka who scored a great goal 5 minutes (49th minute) after half-time.

It looked like the game would finish as a 1-1 draw, however Inverness managed to nick all 3 points near the end when Grant Munro scored a header after some shocking defending by Aberdeen on the 81st minute.

The game finished as 2-1 and the majority of the 5,917 crowd went home unhappy.

At the end of the game i read that Aberdeen has only picked up 4 points out of a possible 30. Which is totally unacceptable!

Next game was against Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox. Blog about that to follow.

New Post coming soon.

Sorry for not posting as much as i usually do. I promise that in the next couple of days i will get a few posts up.

Need to type up match reports for the following:

Aberdeen 1 - Inverness CT 2
Rangers 2 - Aberdeen 0

Yeah, both those results sucked!

I'm off to the Scotland game tomorrow night, they are playing against the Faeroe Islands. We should beat them but you never know!

Celtic 9 - Aberdeen 0

I have been putting off writing this blog for the past couple of hours. I have been so mad today you just wouldn't believe it. Yes, i have not made a typo, my team got beat 9-nil today. What a disgrace.

I cannot bring myself to type up my thoughts, so i will copy and paste the following article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/9161840.stm

Celtic   9 - 0   Aberdeen

A potent display by Celtic's strikeforce blew Aberdeen away in an afternoon of high drama at Celtic Park.

Anthony Stokes opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Dons captain Paul Hartley saw red for handball.

Gary Hooper grabbed a brace before Celtic's Thomas Rovne also saw red, Stokes then converting another penalty.

Josh Magennis netted an own goal and Hooper claimed his hat-trick before Joe Ledley, a third for Stokes and a Paddy McCourt penalty completed the rout.

The home side started brightly, perhaps boosted by the news that club legend Henrik Larsson was watching from the stands, but could not carve out a clear chance in the opening minutes despite their pressure.
Stokes was the first to have a go at goal, picking up on a pass from Hooper, but his fierce right-footed drive flew over the bar.

Chris Maguire was first to have an effort for the visitors after Darren Mackie won the ball in midfield, but the young striker took too long before shooting allowing Celtic keeper Fraser Forster to narrow the angle and put the ball out for a corner.

Ki Sung-Yeung then fired in a shot from inside the box which Hartley blocked with his arm, referee Alan Muir pointed immediately for the spot and Hartley saw red.

Stokes sent Langfield the wrong way with his spot-kick to open the scoring - his sixth goal of the season.

Almost straight from the kick-off Celtic doubled their lead, Hooper outmuscled Zander Diamond before crashing a shot past Langfield from about 12 yards out.

Aberdeen's afternoon went from bad to worse when Hooper claimed his second of the match, as Diamond deflected Niall McGinn's cross into the path of Hooper who fired home from close range.

Rovne then hauled down Maguire on the edge of the box and referee Muir produced his second red card of the match, deeming the offence a clear goalscoring opportunity.

The half ended on a dramatic note in keeping with the way the game was evolving as Langfield brought down Shaun Maloney inside the six-yard box.

Stokes converted the penalty to double his own personal tally, with Celtic fans left wondering why Langfield was shown a yellow card rather than red.

Stokes and Hooper were causing the Dons defence all sorts of problems, and Hooper was left with the first chance of the second half, but his shot after chesting the ball was turned past the post by Langfield.

Hooper seemed eager to claim a hat-trick, and he flashed a volley just wide of the mark after a cut-back from right-back Cha Du Ri.

However, it was Magennis who scored next, putting his side five goals down as, stretching to head a cross clear, he diverted the ball past Langfield and into the net.

Hooper was not to be denied though, and, shortly after, he peeled off Diamond and flashed a back post header past Langfield.

Ledley then deceived Langfield with a low, driven effort with the visitors in complete disarray.

Almost straight from the restart, Stokes joined Hooper in grabbing a hat-trick, robbing Maguire of the ball before slotting calmly past Langfield.

Maloney was then brought down in the box for a second time for a penalty which this time was converted by substitute McCourt to put Celtic on cloud nine.

Celtic were toying with the visitors, whose confidence had utterly evaporated, leaving a question mark over the future of under-pressure Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee.

What can i add to that? Other than the fact that right now i feel embarrassed to be an Aberdeen fan. Don't worry i would never turn my back on the team that i love but i think there must be changes at the club. I think that we have given Mark McGhee enough time and that he should walk as soon as possible. We are now 9th in the SPL table, which is unacceptable, only 2 points off of the bottom place.

Next game is against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Tuesday night at home. I will be working, but after today's result i am almost glad that i will be missing the game.

New Blog

Just started up a new blog:


http://pmckrackenfinancials.blogspot.com/

It is a Financial based blog where i post hints and tips to help you get the most out of your money.

Please follow!

University & Podcasts

I just thought that i would very quickly update my blog while at University waiting for my classes to start. For the first time in ages i have actually completed my work and am not rushing at the last minute to complete anything. I quite like this feeling, i should try to continue this through the rest of the semester.

Does anyone reading this listen to podcasts? I subscribe to quite a few, here is a list off of the top of my head:

1. Iain Lee on Absolute Radio
2. Radio Five Live - Daily Bacon
3. Radio Five Live - Football Daily
4. Radio Five Live - 606 Football Phone In
5. Collins and Herring (BBC 6 Music)
6. Collings and Herrin
7. Richard Herring - As It Occurs to Me
8. Scottish Football

There may be a few that aren't regular or that i have forgot.

So followers, what podcasts do you listen to?

A Day In The Life

Another band that i have been listening to a lot is The Beatles. I have created an ace playlist where it shuffles from Bad Religion to Morrissey to The Beatles.

I remember very clearly getting the Beatles "1" album as a Christmas present when i was young and i listened to it over and over again. However, it was only very recently that i realised that this was only scratching the surface in terms of the Beatles song library. I went out and got all the Beatles albums, listened to them one after the other.

Wow, just wow i couldn't believe how good some of the songs were. From "And I Love Her" on the A Hard Day's Night album to You Never Give Me Your Money on Abbey Road there are loads of amazing tunes. There are only a few songs that i am not too keen on (Maxwell's Sliver Hammer on Abbey Road is one that springs to mind), but how many artists/bands that you listen to can you honestly say that you like about 95% of everything they have written? For me, not many.

It was also interesting to hear how much the Beatles had changed over that period. The songs got really complicated in their later years compared to the simple style that they used in their first album Please Please Me.

I will end this post with my current favourite Beatles song:



A Day in the Life off of  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely  Hearts Club Band album. The part in the middle that starts with: "Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head..." is one of my favourite parts of any song.

Enjoy!

My question for the day is: What is your favourite Beatles song?

Bad Religion

I found this acoustic version of a classic Bad Religion song on youtube. I think this is wonderful and cannot stop listening to it.

Bad Religion were one of my favourite bands when i was growing up and i recently rediscovered them and went through their back catalogue. It was such a joy to re-listen all those great albums.

Do you have a favourite band from your youth that you have rediscovered (or you need to rediscover?)?

St Mirren 2 - Aberdeen 1

The Dons couldn't make it 3 wins in a row and instead St Mirren managed to drag themselves off the bottom of the SPL table with a win at St Mirren Park. St Mirren were only off the bottom for 24 hours as Kilmarnock beat Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday and leaped over them in the SPL standings.

This wasn't the best result for Aberdeen and is not a good lead into our first dress rehearsal for the League Cup Semi-Final against Celtic on the 6th of November at Celtic Park.

Maybe the players were exhausted from playing 3 games in a week? Maybe it was just an off day. I really hope so, since it is important that we start to get a run of wins in the league.

Back to the match itself: Aberdeen never got started in the first half and was punished at a corner when our goalkeeper went for the ball and missed, this made it easy for McAusland (27th minute) to head it into the back of the net.

Thankfully, Aberdeen managed to pull it back to 1-1 after half-time when on the 67th minute Rory McArdle took advantage of a miscue by Aberdeen striker Chris Maguire and fired the ball home.

The rest of the game was played at a fair pace with chances for both sides to take the 3 points. However unlike Tuesday night it was St Mirren who stole the 3 points at the death. Travner skipped past Michael Paton and drilled the ball into the bottom corner of the net sending the St Mirren fans crazy and making sure they went home happy.

This was a sobering lesson to Aberdeen fans that they must keep their feet on the ground, it would appear that whenever we seem to get a really good result we always come crashing back down to earth with a bang. As going into the game on Saturday a lot of people were saying that we should easily beat St Mirren. :(

That is my summation of the match on Saturday. Next up is Glasgow Celtic at Celtic Park on Saturday. Kick off at 3pm.

COME ON YOU REDS!

Harpoons

That is all.