Aberdeen 8 - 1 Clyde

Clyde Victims of Goal Avalanche

Brilliant Streak by Forwards

Aberdeen returned to winning vein against Clyde at Pittodrie in no uncertain manner. The big score the Dons chalked up against the Shawfield Park side was no exaggeration of the run of play. After the first twenty minutes Clyde were never in the hunt.
Aberdeen played machine-like football, and but for a never-say-die Clyde defence the home side's total might well have reached double figures. Even with Moore off injured in the closing stages, the Aberdeen attack was incisive as ever, and their eighth and final goal was secured just before the end.
If Aberdeen's successive away defeats in the past two weeks were calculated somewhat to dampen the enthusiasm of their supporters, Saturday's game swept away any fears or doubts that may have been entertained as to the general team standard.
It was not so much the overwhelming nature of Aberdeen's win as the brilliant form they revealed that raised the enthusiasm of the crowd to such a high pitch.

Forward Brilliance

Admittedly the Clyde opposition was not of the strongest, but at the same time the visitors never once la down; they were simply outclassed in every department.
On the form they displayed, Aberdeen would have been just as irresistible against the strongest side in the League. They played like champions, and especially brilliant was the work of the forwards, each of whom found the net.
Mills was the scintillating star of the galaxy of five. His great exhibition of clever and thrustful inside play was deservedly crowned by the achievement of the hat-trick.
In this slim youth, it was once more borne out, Aberdeen have made one of the captures of the season. A natural footballer, Mills combined brains with skill, and his play was reminiscent of some of the past ?Napoleons? of forward lines of other days.
Beattie, the local lad, was little behind in the honours of the attack. With greater strength at his command, the inside right was like Mills, ever scheming, and the fourth goal, scored before the interval, could be traced to one of his wily moves inaugurated in midfield.

Memorable Goal

Beattie was a dominant personality, and his goal ? the seventh of the series ? will be long remembered. After manoeuvring cleverly for position, the tall ex-Hall Russell's boy drove in a beautiful slanting shot which entered the net like an arrow from a bow.
Moore showed his best form. One of the cleverest individualists playing in first-class football, the Irishman is also one of the most discriminating distributors of play, and until his unfortunate injury near the close, when he twisted a tendon in his right leg and had to be carried off the field, he kept his line going like a well-oiled machine. An opportunist of the first water, his two goals scored form close n, were cleverly secured. Warnock enhanced his growing reputation on the extreme right. His crossing was deadly, and he infused a dash and sparkle into his play that was most refreshing. His header into the net just after the resumption was a particularly neat piece of work.

The Cool Head

McLean, on the other touchline, was full of craft and method, and his goal was yet another instance of the value of coolness in a critical moment.
The Aberdeen mid-line, changed as it was, had a big say in the goal scoring avalanche.
The half-back trio kept putting the ball ahead in purposeful manner, and gave the harassed Clyde rear lines little opportunity for much-needed rest. Falloon was his usual strong, steadying influence at centre-half, and of the wing-halves, Fraser caught the eye most. He had a 'foot' in three of his side's goals.
The defence was never really tested, and Smith, in the second half, was only called into action once or twice. But he was on the alert, and averted Clyde's despairing efforts at reducing the ever-growing gap between the teams. Cooper was the better back, his placing being most accurate.
To describe the play is a matter of book-keeping. In the first minute Mills cottoned on to a ball screwed back by Warnock, and the ball was in the net.

Clyde Get One

Clyde fought back, and were level in seven minutes. Summers, their left-half, shot hard for the corner, and the ball was sped on the way to its billet by McGill in attempting to clear.
In twenty-three minutes Moore, elusive as an eel, had the visiting defence at sixes and sevens, and gave the Dons the lead. Four minutes later, Mills, following up a Fraser free-kick, added a third, and twelve minutes later McLean raced through to score a fourth. Just on half-time Mills struck the cross-bar, and Moore headed over from the rebound.

Only two minutes of the second half had gone when Warnock headed through a McLean centre. Ten minutes later Moore finished off further good work by McLean, and six was 'on the board.' Then came the best goal of the game by Beattie, already referred to, and near the end, after Moore had been carried off, Mills scored his third goal and his side's eight.

To the Bitter End

Clyde, though hopelessly outplayed, deserve praise for the plucky manner in which they kept struggling on in the face of successive blows. Stevenson, in goal, put up a good display. He was not to blame for any of the goals scored against his side. Both the Clyde backs were sadly overworked, but defended dourly to the last. Wood and Summers were outstanding in a half-back trio literally run off their feet, and forward McGurk and Boyd, strong clever players, sought in vain to break down the barriers of a solid defence.

Source: Press & Journal, 21st November 1932