Partick Thistle 4 - 0 Aberdeen

THEY failed to adapt themselves to the conditions. That was why the Dons went down to Partick Thistle at Firhill

The ground was little more than a sea of mud, and the ball like a lump of lead. A day on which physical strength counted more than skill. A day on which the obvious policy was to boot the ball about hard and follow quickly.
Aberdeen attempted the impossible. The forwards insisted trying to weave patterns on a ground on which the short pass was "killed" before it had travelled half-way to its objective.
Partick made mistakes - lots of them. They were unavoidable under the conditions. But they didn't make the mistake of adopting a close styte of play and persisting in it.
Their main advantage lay at half-back. Hewitt, Husband, and Brown had the physical strength and courage to carry the ball through and drive it ahead to the forwards.
The forwards responded well to the promptings of the men behind in the second half. The four goals testify their penetrative power.
With the teams level at the interval it looked as if the game might go either way. I felt, like most others, that the team to score first would win the match. And so proved.
Partick opened the scoring in five minutes, and Watson was beaten four times in twenty-one minutes.
O'Donnell was first to hit the mark. When Dunlop rose and missed a corner from Chisholm, the inside-right headed into the net.
Seven minutes iater O'Donnell sent the ball through to Mathie, and the centre ran on to score. A fine run by Hewitt two minutes later saw the right-half put Mathie in possession, and again the centre seized his chance.
Chisholm and Sharp carried the ball through for the fourth goal and O'Donnell ran through to score from the inside-left's pass.
Wrong tactics explain the failure of the Pittodrie forwards to get goals, but it doesn't provide the answer for the loss of the four goals.
The Dons have played three matcnes in four davs and conceded nine goals and scored five. This surely suggests there is something wrong with the defence.
Underfoot conditions were almost unbelievably bad and in the circumstances I feel it would be unjust to criticise individual players. As a matter of fact I wouldn't have been surprised if the referee had decided to postpone the match.
On tiie day's play, however, Partick were the the stronger and more purposeful team. They won deservedly.
In three week's time the teams are due to meet again at Pittodrie in round the Scottish Cup. In spite Saturday's result I expect the Dons, given reasonable conditions, to go into the hat for the second-round draw.
Young Prank Watson was put to a severe test in the Parkhead and Firhill games and he emerged with flying colours. The Aberdeen club made no mistake when they signed this lad from Peebles Rovers.
Cooper and Cowie were seen at their best in the first half, but none of the Aberdeen half-backs compared favourablv with the Partick trio.
Hamilton was the Dons' hardest-working and most dangerous forward.

The Dons wore Partick Thistle's old colours in this match. [AFCHT: blue with white sleeves.]