Third Lanark 3 - 1 Aberdeen

Team Devoid of Fire and Enthusiasm
By NORMAN MACDONALD

THE Aberdeen football ship is leaking badly. Unless some salvage plan is quickly developed it is liable to sink into the relegation whirlpool. The Dons were outpaced, outpointed and outplayed by Third Lanark at Cathkin Park on Saturday.

Don't imagine the Warriors were a classy side. Truth to tell, they were no more than moderate, but they attained some success in their efforts to play cohesive football and they had the will-to-win spirit. The Dons could not make the same claim.
I have seen Aberdeen beaten and had sympathy with them; I have seen them go down fighting heroically, but I doubt if I have ever seen them devoid of fire and enthusiasm as they were at Cathkin.
They were not a team - they were eleven individuals. They invited trouble by their defensive tactics and threatened none in their attacking sorties.
They were hit by injuries in the closing half-hour of the game.
McKenna went on the left wing following a knock on the head, and Anderson and Robb were lame ducks in the rear.
That does not provide an excuse. The score was 3-1 at this stage, as it was when the final whistle was sounded.
Just how uninspiring was the Aberdeen attack may be gauged from the fact that mcKellar, in the Thirds goal, was not called upon to make a direct save during the entire second half.
In the first period, too, he had no reason to complain of overwork.

Mason Master

Mason was the brains of the Third Lanark front line. This pocket-size football craftsman was the man behind most of his side's attacking movements.
The Aberdeen team fielded on Saturday was not a success. There are bound to be changes in attack as well as defence for this week's game with Celtic.
Twenty-eight players have appeared in the first team this season and still the right blend has not been discovered.
Frank Watson stands alone as the single defender who can claim 100 per cent marks.
Considering it was his first appearance in the league team, McKeown, the Dons' Irish back, played fairly well. He had what was sadly lacking in most of his team-mates - fighting spirit.
Harris was the only half back who impressed. The fact that the attack failed to operate successfully as a line was in no way due to the inclusion of Don Emery at centre forward.
Yorston was experimented with at outside right, but he, also, received so little of the ball that it was impossible to judge his worth.

First Goal

Mason engineered the first Third Lanark goal in twelve minutes. He turned defence into attack by sending Orr away. The inside left transferred the ball to Henderson, and Cuthbertson dived forward to head the winger's fast cross into the net.
Aberdeen drew level in twenty-eight minutes. Christie, the Thirds centre half, blundered.
He was slow in clearing his lines and Emery pounced to rob him of the ball and send it flying into the net.
The Warriors regained the lead one minute after the start of the second half when McKeown brought McLeod down inside the penalty area. Henderson converted the spot kick.
With fifty-six minutes played Third Lanark made the issue safe with a third goal. Henderson went spanking past McKenna, who never succeeded in getting a grip of his opponent, and whipped the ball into the middle for Cuthbertson to head home.

Source: Press & Journal, 9th January 1950