Aberdeen 0 Heart of Midlothian 1
Ladbrokes SPFL Premiership, Thursday 12 May 2016 – Pittodrie
Hearts headed to the Granite City for their penultimate Ladbrokes Premiership game of a long campaign and returned south with a narrow win after Abiola Dauda scored the only goal of a game that could have been invented for the cliché ‘end of season’
Hearts Head Coach Robbie Neilson made three changes to the side who huffed and puffed against Ross County at Tynecastle on Saturday. Dario Zanatta, Arnaud Djoum and Juanma started ahead of Sam Nicholson, Don Cowie and Gavin Reilly. Youngster Lewis Moore was on the substitutes bench.
The highlight of a poor match came in the 64th minute. Hearts skipper Alim Ozturk fired in a trademark free-kick from 30 yards which Aberdeen keeper Collin could only parry to the on-rushing Abiola Dauda who blasted the rebound into the net.
And that, folks, was pretty much it for decent action. Both teams looked leg-weary and looking like they would rather be anywhere else than on a football field.
The result meant a third win of the season for Hearts over the Dons and the Gorgie Boys have now recorded their highest top flight points total for a decade. But, other than that…
Aberdeen: Collin; Logan, Taylor, McKenna (Smith 70), Considine; Flood (Nuttall 81), Jack; McGinn, Hayes, Shinnie; McLean.
Hearts: Hamilton; Paterson, Ozturk, Souttar, Oshaniwa; Buaben, Kitchen, Djoum, Zanatta (Nicholson 68); Juanma (McGhee 90), Dauda (Reilly 79).
Referee: Andrew Dallas.
Att: 10,087
Top people: The men, women and children of the Maroon Army who travelled north to watch a tedious game. I take my hat off to them.
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
