Aberdeen make it six wins from six with victory over St Mirren

Posted Monday, August 12, 2024 by PA

Aberdeen made it six wins from six in all competitions under new boss Jimmy Thelin as they overcame battling St Mirren 3-1 in their first home William Hill Premiership match of the season.

Dons duo Pape Habib Gueye and Jamie McGrath found the net either side of Toyosi Olusanya’s close-range equaliser for Saints, with substitute Vicente Besuijen putting gloss on the scoreline with a late diving header.

Showing one change from the side that had beaten St Johnstone, Aberdeen dropped Girona-linked Bojan Miovski to the bench, with Gueye taking his place.

St Mirren shuffled their pack following the home draw with SK Brann in Europa Conference League qualifying, including giving Olusanya – scorer of their last-minute midweek leveller – a starting spot.

Aberdeen started brightly, with Shayden Morris drifting in from the right to play in Ester Sokler. The Slovenian took a touch and was nudged off the ball by Alex Gogic, but the challenge deemed fair.

Gogic was involved again as McGrath was squeezed out from a Nicky Devlin through ball, but again there was no apparent foul.

The pace of Olusanya was causing the Dons defence problems and he fired a wild shot across the face of goal for a throw-in before hitting the side-netting from close range, only to see the offside flag go up.

The home side responded when Gueye took a neat touch from Graeme Shinnie’s searching pass and beat his man before firing into the side-netting.

The Buddies will rue the way they conceded the opener, as goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe’s clearance was blocked by Sokler who eventually forced a corner.

Balcombe then flapped at McGrath’s inswinger and Gueye took full advantage to head home from close range.

St Mirren’s equaliser deep into first-half stoppage time was equally calamitous.

Under pressure from Olusanya, Gavin Malloy failed to deal with a long ball over the top and neither Slobodan Rubezic nor goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov took control of the situation, allowing the striker to turn home inside the six-yard box.

Aberdeen were back in front shortly after the interval, however, as they won the ball high in the opposition half and worked their way into the area where Morris was screaming for a cutback from Sokler.

The winger fluffed his lines but his mis-hit fell to McGrath who curled the ball past Balcombe from 12 yards.

The flow of play was interrupted by a host of changes as both sides freshened up, but Sokler was unlucky to see a shot deflected over before Besuijen peeled off the back of Elvis Bwomono to guide home Shinnie’s back-post cross with a neat diving header.

Miovski entered the play in time added on for what is likely to be his final Dons appearance.