Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 - 3 Aberdeen

Seattle

For most of Aberdeen's players this was their first ever game on an Astroturf pitch. For Tommy McMillan it was not a new experience as he had played at the Astrodome on AstroTurf on 4th July 1967 against Bangu of Brazil. That match was billed as being between the Houston Stars and the Washington Whips.

This was the second of the four-game West Coast tour with Aberdeen once again facing Wolves. The game was played in the Emerald City: Seattle, Washington.

It was a familiar give-and-take from the two sides towards the host city. The Washington State Soccer Association's developmental committee announced the game a few months in advance in order to build anticipation. Seattle's fears of repeating the poor attendance witnessed for the San Francisco game held May 21 proved unfounded: The stadium was just over half-filled with 6,100 coming out to the 12,000 capacity Seattle High School Memorial Stadium. All profits from the game went towards the development of football in the state of Washington, ultimately leading to the founding of the original Seattle Sounders squad one year later.
Wolves vs. Aberdeen was billed as the main event, as though it was a heavyweight boxing title fight. The pregame match was an all-star under-21 game to promote youth development within the state, with the intention being that watching British professionals would inspire the next generation.
Pregame newspaper coverage of Aberdeen was focused on the big and small dynamic of the team's key players: "Giant Willie Young" (the Seattle media was obsessed by his 6'3" frame) and "Wee Joe Harper" (based on his performance on the tour as well as in previous seasons). Post-game plaudits were given to Young for successfully smothering the Wolves attack along with the rest of the Aberdeen defence.
Aberdeen started as though the game was a continuation from San Francisco. After four minutes a corner was swung into new signing Barrie Mitchell, whose header gave the Dons a 1-0 lead.
The game was somewhat overshadowed by an injury to centre back Henning Boel, who suffered a broken nose. The Dons were not rattled, however, as seven minutes after Boel left the pitch Mitchell headed a Jim Forrest cross home. It was his second goal of the game and third of the tour.
Three minutes later - in what the Seattle Daily Times called a "trick manoeuvre" - Aberdeen were awarded a free kick from 10 yards out. Steve Murray would lay the kick off and Jim Forrest had a clear shot on goal putting Aberdeen 3-0 up at the half.
The second saw Wolves ramp up their attack, but Aberdeen's stingy defence ensured a clean sheet through to the final whistle. The Dons were off to a flyer in the American tour.
The match was also unique in that it was the first Aberdeen game to be played on AstroTurf, which Davie Robb described as "quite satisfactory." However, the surface did become very hot after a while due to the friction created by the players running on the pitch.
The next game would be in Vancouver two days later, yet again playing on an AstroTurf surface. Aberdeen's AstroTurf games seemed to be like London buses.

Author: George Pirie