Aberdeen fire four in cup rout of sorry St Mirren

Posted Sunday, August 19, 2018 by PA

Aberdeen blew away St Mirren as they progressed to the third round of the Betfred Cup thanks to a superb 4-0 win against fellow Premiership side St Mirren.

Despite losing the influential Niall McGinn to injury in the warm-up, the Dons created the first chance after just nine seconds, and first-half goals from Gary Mackay-Steven, Graeme Shinnie and Stevie May had them on easy street.

Mackay-Steven added a fourth from the penalty spot early in the second half, and in truth the Dons could have scored as many as they wanted.

Frank Ross stepped in for McGinn at the last moment, with Scott Wright starting in place of Sam Cosgrove the only change from the side that had beaten Dundee.

Saints were unchanged from their defeat to Rangers, but that familiarity counted for little as Mackay-Steven carved their defence apart from the kick-off, with May forcing Samson into that ninth-second save.

It was a fast start for the Dons, and within the opening five minutes Samson was again called upon to save a Lewis Ferguson diving header, before the same player turned wide from the resultant corner.

And their efforts were rewarded with the opening goal after 16 minutes. Ferguson was the provider, beating his man on the left flank before cutting a ball across the box for Mackay-Steven to volley into the ground and high into the roof of the net from 10 yards.

The second was not long in following, and Mackay-Steven again had a big part to play. He was the provider this time, crossing for Shinnie to bullet a header into the top corner of the net from three yards.

And it was 3-0 after 26 minutes. Samson’s poor pass was intercepted by the alert Scott Wright, who went past the goalkeeper before unselfishly squaring for May to fire home his first goal of the season.

Mackay-Steven came close to adding a fourth, three minutes from the break. He skipped by Hayden Coulson – who will be having nightmares about the former Celtic winger – before cutting into the centre of the area and seeing his low shot smothered by the goalkeeper.

Indeed, Coulson was the man who gave away the penalty after 10 minutes of the second half, from which the Dons scored again. It was Mackay-Steven he tripped, and Mackay-Steven who found the bottom left corner from 12 yards.