One of the big advantages in running two reserve teams, which has been highlighted for the Aberdeen club in the last few weeks, is the extra opportunities the East Reserve League fixtures afford players to regain full match fitness on their return from injury.
In recent Reserve Reports, we have referred to comebacks by Andy Gibson, Neil Cooper and Scott Thomson, and now the latest addition to that list is Graham Watson.
The talented Fifer, who has had more than his fair share of bad luck on the injury front in the last couple of years, ended his latest spell on the sidelines, stretching back to the beginning of the year (1992), by playing in an East Reserve League game at Alloa early last week.
This was followed by a Premier Reserve League appearance against Hearts at Tynecastle last Saturday and although he was taken off five minutes before the end, this was due, understandably after his lengthy absence, to no more than tiredness.
Over the two games, Graham did more than enough to satisfy reserve team coach Neil Cooper that the 21-year-old midfielder will soon be challenging for the first team squad place he held at the time of his injury.
Thanks to the postponement of an intervening league fixture, the 2-0 victory at Tynecastle came hard on the heels of a 1-0 win over Hearts at Pittodrie three weeks earlier, and brought the young Dons' tally to 14 victories in their last 17 Premier Reserve League fixtures.
The Aberdeen goals, the first scored by Andy Roddie just before the interval, and the second by Ian Downie early in the second half, both resulted from well-constructed moves, and were taken with great composure.
A significant feature of the Edinburgh game was the trouble the front-running partnership of Ian Cameron and Ian Downie gave to a Hearts' defence in which veteran Sandy Clark found himself in the unaccustomed role of central defender.
Source: Match Programme, Saturday 28th March 1992