Alloa Athletic 1 - 5 Aberdeen

The second team's fixture schedule in the Premier Reserve League has been seri¬ously held up by necessary postponements. First of all there was the visit of the under-20s to Valencia for the youth tournament which saw them earn third place above several famous continental clubs then the game with St.Mirren had to be put back twice.
Consequently the spotlight was thrown on the third team's match against Alloa at Recreation Park in the East Reserve League. Because of the shortage of reserve games and with players needing outings Dons turned out a strong-looking, experienced team and predictably registered a clear victory. The 5-1 scoreline was not the important feature of this but the fact that several players were given a match they would otherwise not have had.
Among them was Charlie Nicholas in the process of recovering from the knee injury which had kept him out of the first team. Nicholas responded by getting the game underway with a goal in the opening seconds and scored a second midway through the second half. Other goals came from Paul Mason, Brian Grant and Paul Wright. Also in the unusually powerful 'third' team were Ian Porteous and Tom Jones.
Although the final result was a decisive one it was not quite as simple as it sounds. With Dons leading 2-1 Aloa were awarded a penalty and Steve Beckett made a superb save.

Source: Match Programme 7th September 1988