Edited By NORMAN MACDONALD.
HIBS' forwards dazzled and the Dons' defence dithered during a hectic fifteen minutes spell at the start of the second half at Easter Road yesterday.
During this brief period Aberdeen lost four goals and eventually the match and the points by a 2-6 margin.
Dundee are at the top. A 2-1 win over Morton at Dens Park leaves them two points ahead of Aberdeen who have a game in hand. Hibs are now only a point behind the Dons with three games fewer played.
THE Easter Road team certainly shaped like champions in the second half of yesterday's game. Their defence is not altogether free from suspicion, but their attack has pep, punch and personality. I have seen them six times this season and it will take a good team to beat Hibs for the Scottish League flag.
The Dons made a fight of it in the first half all right. Their forwards never moved with the same speed and efficiency as the Hibs quintet, but twice the home team found themselves in arrears, and the teams were all square at 2-2 when the halflime whistle went.
The Hibs? attacking firecrackers started to explode two minutes after the restart, and Reilly, Smith, Wood and Johnstone all banged the ball into the net in the first fifteen minutes.
the game was finished as a contest, although the Aberdeen fought until the finish.
The Pittodrie defence just couldn't cope with the Easter Road attack, Young was missed at centre-half.
This is not an attempt to blame Thomson for the 6-2 defeat. Otheres besides the deputy centre-half could be faulted. Thomson, however, did not reveal the same nippiness and speed in the tackle as Young.
It looked as if Curran was caught out of position when Smith headed the fourth goal. The backs were none too happy. McKenna, like many Scottish left backs, failed to subdue the clever and ingenious Smith.
Anderson and Harris worked hard in defence, but they never succeeded in establishing the same co-operation with their forwards as did Buchanan and Combe.
Hibs had a better understanding too, among their forwards. Yorston and Baird were too prone to indulge in negative play. They sacrificed the offensive spirit in favour of defence.
As a result Hamilton was often left to wage a one-man war, with occasional help from Delaney and Pearson.
The left winger's goal (Aberdeen's second) was one of the highlights of the match. He raced from twenty to twentyfive yards up the centre with Patterson in hot pursuit, and finally beat Younger.
Hamilton claimed the Dons' first goal from an Anderson throw-in. Johnstone and Reilly scored for Hibs during the opening period.
Source: Evening Express, 3rd January 1951
Hibernian Teamsheet
Younger, Howie, Ogilvie, Buchanan, Paterson, Combe, Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Wood, Ormond
Aberdeen Teamsheet Curran,
Shaw,
McKenna,
Anderson,
Thomson,
Harris,
Delaney,
Yorston,
Hamilton,
Baird,
Pearson.
Attendance: 35,000
Venue: Easter Road, Edinburgh
Referee: D.McKerchar, Stanley
