Aberdeen 1 - 3 Cowdenbeath

A large crowd witnessed a tussle between the Aberdeen A and Cowdenbeath at Pittodrie.
Teams:- Aberdeen A: Barrett; Willox, Mackie; Ritchie, Thompson, Robertson; Knowles, Harvey, Caie, Shiach, Jaffrey.
Cowdenbeath: Thompson; S. Robertson, Duthie; Orrock, Brown, W. Robertson; Dilling, Mercer, Rough, Mahon, Horne.
Referee - Mr. Nisbet, Edinburgh.

Cowdenbeath kicked off, but play was of an uninteresting character and was confined to the Cowdenbeath left wing. After a time the Aberdeen front line showed up splendidly, and bore down on their opponents, but the Fifers' defence, however, was as hard as nails. Several times the Aberdeen forwards sent in "stingers" of shots, but the goalkeeper was on the alert and succeeded in negotiating them creditably. The chief item in the Cowdenbeath play was the overhead kicking which played havoc with the Aberdeen. On several occasions the strangers were smart in their passing, I and, after about 15 minutes, created quite a surprise by scoring the first goal of the much. A few minutes afterwards Aberdeen equalised by a splendid combined run by the forwards and a stinging shot by Thompson. Encouraged by the success, Aberdeen had a few more tries for goal, but they generally shot wide. Aberdeen had some fines scrimmage is at the "Cowden's" goal, but their shooting was ineffective, and a splendid work by the Cowden's backs help greatly to frustrate their attempts to score. After this the game was confined to the kick and run order, with an occasional visit to each goal. It would, indeed, have required the front rank of the Aberdeen's first team to successfully penetrate the Fifers' space defence. The forwards of both teams played splendidly, and the Aberdeen wings were particularly prominent. The interval score was a very fair indication of how the play had gone.

On resuming play, Cowdenbeath took up the running, and can find the game to the Aberdeen's territory. Willox and Mackie, however, presented a strong defence, and occasionally broke away at times. The Fife team's dribbling was really good, and they're smart passing roused up memories of their earlier successes. After 15 minutes from the restart, Cowdenbeath scored a second goal. Rough was again responsible for showing himself to be a player of ability. The Aberdeen second string was cheered that every break away. The fife capitalize team, however, were the better lot, even although they oppose the tough lot in Aberdeen A. From a corner brown scored a splendid goal, pitting the ball into the net clean past Barrett. The gate amounted to £45.

Source: Aberdeen Daily Journal, 27th February 1905