Aberdeen 3 - 2 Dundee

Moore Leads the Way at Pittodrie.

Aberdeen have never had to fight harder for victory than they did against Dundee at Pittodrie yesterday. It was a tribute the stamina of both teams that they set up and maintained a terrific pace under terrible conditions. The strong wind blew the rain across the pitch in icy blasts, and as the turf cut up the players' task was rendered and more difficult on the thickening coating of mud. Towards the end several players on both sides were almost unrecognisable, being covered with mud from head to foot.
Despite all these disadvantages, however, play never flagged, from, beginning to end, and the 16,000 spectators forgot their own discomfort in the excitement the battle.
The Dons had more of the play all over than the Dark Blues, and deserved their narrow victory, but the men from Tayside can be spared a word of sympathy in their defeat.
They fought back magnificently when in arrears, and in one or two instances were distinctly unlucky with efforts at goal. Their forwards chose the nearest route to goal and moved with a machine-like precision which constituted a continuous menace to the home defence.

Brilliant Solo Effort.

Playing with the advantage of the capricious breeze, the Dundonians took the lead in thirty-five minutes as the result of a brilliant solo run and shot by Robertson, the ball glancing into the net off an upright.
When it was Aberdeen's turn to have the ball whirled for them down field they made the most it.
Within a minute of the restart Moore had the ball in the net, taking with his head an accurate lob by McDermid. It was a glorious goal. Ten minutes later the home pressure was further rewarded when Fraser drove a low ball through a ruck of friends and opponents and Edwards had no chance to save. Half-an-hour was barely up when Beattie ploughed a furrow through the mud to beat Edwards with yet another gliding shot that hardly rose from the ground. The issue seemed safe, but the Dundee lads were of stem stuff, and Robertson headed in a lovely goal following a free kick twelve minutes from the end.
Heartened by this success, Dundee put great vim into their closing attacks, but a resolute defence held at bay these few remaining thrusts and when the whistle blew - to the relief of victor and vanquished, one would imagine - the Dons held the whip-hand and deservedly so.

Near Things.

Both sides missed chances. In the first half Moore, for once in a while, sent over when a few feet from goal, and in the second half Robertson was chagrined to see a ball, which completely beat Smith, come out apparently from under the cross-bar.
The visitors appealed for a goal, and there certainly was a possibility of the ball having struck the roof of the net. The referee, however, had dubiety on the point, and the battle proceeded.
Both defences had a hard afternoon. Smith, in the Aberdeen goal, was very safe, and both Cooper and McGill played sound defensive game.
Fraser was the best half-back afield. In attack and defence alike he was a dominant figure, and it was fitting that he should score a goal, for he worked like a Trojan for his side's success throughout.
O'Reilly was not far behind but, in positional sense, was frequently too far behind. The "third-back" game can be exploited overmuch, and just too many cooks may spoil the broth, so may too many backs spoil the effectiveness of a team.

Home Forwards Off Form.

The Aberdeen forwards were not in their best vein. Moore was in his usual penetrative mood, but some of his wily moves were lost upon his colleagues. McDermid played pluckily on the extreme left, but he cannot be said to have solved the Pittodrie wing problem. Mills, only recently recovered from illness, could be excused for not revealing his best form. The heavy ground, too, was against him.
Edwards took the defensive honours for Dundee. Several of his saves bordered on the miraculous. Brown was the better back, and was easily the best of the visitors' midline. Robertson, at centre, and Miller, inside left, were the live wires of the Dundee attack, the weakness which lay in the extreme wings.

"Paddy" Moore has struck his best form since returning to the leadership of Aberdeen following his long absence through injury. Against Motherwell and Dundee he was the live wire of the Dons' attack, and once again the cry, "Give it to Paddy," can be heard at Pittodrie..

Source: Press & Journal, 3rd January 1933