Aberdeen 2 - Falkirk 1

Picture from the BBC

This was the most important match of the season so far, a League Cup Quarter Final match against Falkirk. Falkirk are sitting 3rd in the very competitive 1st Division, the Division below Aberdeen (who play in the Scottish Premier League).

You may think that since Falkirk play in the division below us, that it should be an easy win for Aberdeen. You couldn't be any more wrong. Aberdeen have a horrible record of going out of cup competitions to teams that play in divisions below them. 

Last season we were knocked out of the League Cup by Dundee (1st Division team) and I personally witnessed them getting knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Raith Rovers in a horrible match (another 1st Divison team). This rubbish record goes all the way back to 1995 where Aberdeen were knocked out of the Scottish Cup (losing 2-0) by a team from the 2nd Divison - Stenhousemuir. Other lower league teams that have knocked us out cups over the years are: Queens Park, Queen of the South and Dunfermline.

Anyway, onto the match. I was unable to attend the game due to work commitments but from what i have heard and from the highlights that i watched last night, we were pretty poor in the first half and couldn't really get going. 

Falkirk drew first blood by scoring from a corner after 33 minutes. It was Mehdi Khalis who headed the goal in. This has been a constant problem this season, Aberdeen seem to be very poor at defending set-pieces and corners. Falkirk continued to play well for the duration of the first half.

Mark McGhee (our manager) must have gave the team a dressing down at half-time as they came out fighting in the second half and Aberdeen finally got the equaliser on the 64th minute when Paul Hartley headed in from the edge of the box. It was great to see our captain lead by example and from what i have heard Paul Hartley brought Aberdeen back into the game.

For the rest of the second half, Falkirk seemed to be playing in a manner which suggested that they would like go to Extra Time however there was a dramatic finish to the match. Mehdi Khalis went from hero to villain as during the last minute of injury time, he brought down Chris Maguire inside the box and the ref awarded a penalty. Our captain Paul Hartley stepped up to take the penalty and slammed it in the opposite corner from where the goalkeeper was diving and scored the goal that sent us into the Semi-Final.

Unfortunately the Semi-Final will not be played until January. However i will be going to it no matter what. Have never attended a Semi-Final with Aberdeen and am already looking forward to it.

This weekend Aberdeen have a tough away match against St Mirren. Hopefully they will take the confidence from Saturday's result against Hibs (winning 4-2) and the result against Falkirk into the game on Saturday and Aberdeen will put in another good performance.

COME ON YOU REDS!