Queen of the South 2 - 5 Aberdeen

Attack Moves With Rhythm: Defence Unfaltering
By NORMAN MACDQNALD

DEVASTATIN - that's the word that best describes the Dons' football in the first hall at Dumfries. They won 5-2. It was an encouraging result and an inspiring display.
They are now firmly established on the road that leads to the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

It was Queen of the South's first defeat in nine games, and it was seen by a record-breaking crowd of 17,500.
The Dumfries team were hit by a northern typhoon. They had lost the game almost before they realised it had started. Four Aberdeen goals in the first twenty-six minutes. It was dynamite-packed football.
I mark down their form in the opening forty-five minutes as the Dons' best display of the season. The defence was unfaltering and the half-backs and forwards moved with a rhythm and mobility the like of which they haven't displayed since August 10.
What a pity that skipper Frank Dunlop was injured just on the interval and the team had to be reshuffled in the second period.
McCall had to drop back to left-half, Waddell moved into the middle and Dunlop went on the extreme wing, with Miller inside support.
These changes upset the balance of a team whose play until this stage had borne the hallmark of championship class.

Easy for Selectors

On their first-half form, the team as constituted on Saturday, with the possible exception of Taylor for Waddell at left-half, is the best that Aberdeen can put on the field at the moment.
Cowie was success at right-half. If he can continue to play as he did at Dumfries, this is undoubtedly his best position. Combining defence with attack with fine judgment, he was the best half-back afield.
McCall was another of Saturday's successes. At inside left he was the most progressive forward on view.
While at full strength the Pittodrie defence displayed a united front to the Queen of the South attack. Full marks for Johnstone in goal, and Cooper staged a come-back at right back. Experienced campaigner that he is, he gave the Dumfries left winger few chances.
McKenna found Oakes, Queen the South's most dangerous forward, an elusive opponent. Until he was injured, we saw the old Dunlop at centre-half, keen in the tackle and confident with the ball in the air. Waddell was not his best at left half, but improved when he took over the centre-half berth.
Miller demonstrated his value bv scoring two of the goals and Kiddie on the other wing can claim to have put the Dons on the road to victory. Hamilton was more subdued than usual, while Harris was a hard-working leader.

Queen's Weakness

Queen the South's main weakness lay at half-back and inside forward. Armstrong struggled pluckily to keep the front line moving, but he received little support from Dempsev and Law.
An Aberdeen attack, carried out with speed and precision, brought a goal in one minute. Kiddie outran Dryburgh to fasten on to through-pass from Harris and went on to find the net.
When Fitzsimmons handled a cross from McCall in twelve minutes, Hamilton scored from the penalty, and four minutes later came the third. Cowie sent Kiddie away, and Harris brought the winger's cross under control and netted from close range.
When Harris nodded the ball to the left in another Aberdeen attack in twenty-six minutes, Miller, without allowing it to touch the ground, smashed it past Henderson.
Queen of tbe South staged a revival after the interval, and, with sixteen minutes gone, Dempsey headed into the net from a corner from Johnstone.
Thirty-three minutes after the restart Oakes fastened to a pass from Armstrong and beat McKenna to score his side's second goal.
In the closing ten minutes the Dons took matters in hand again, and Miller headed their fifth goal from a neat cross from Kiddie.

Source: Press & Journal, 30th September 1946