St. Mirren 3 - 1 Aberdeen

Johnstone and Stenhouse the Only Successes

WITH a 3-1 victory over Aberdeen at Love Street last " night St Mirren jumped back into the lead in the Scottish League. Their tenure of office at the head of affairs will probably be short.

They are not a good team, but in the all-important art of getting goals they had the Dons well beaten. The match can best be described as another chapter in the Pittodrie mystery.
Not until they scored fourteen minutes from time did the Dons come into the game. Then they had the home defence reeling, but it was too late to be of any good.
There had been a faint flicker of hope that the victory over Motherwell would be the first glimpse of a come-back by Aberdeen, but this soon died out in the face of some thrustful football by St Mirren.
Had Archie Kelly managed to prod home a cross by Harris in fifteen minutes there might have been a different story to tell. He slipped and the chance was lost.
That was the last that was seen of the Dons as an attacking force for a long time.
Aberdeen's next match is against Hibs, the champions, at Pittodrie, and it is most likely that there will be changes in the team.
Last night only Johnstone and Stenhouse came out of the game with any real credit. The keeper had some miraculous saves, while Stenhouse was always in the thick of it and did his utmost to get the attack going.

Baird Fails,/p> McLaughlin did his best at right back, but is obviously unsuited to the position. Even so he did as well as McKenna, who found it difficult to cope with Burrell.
The effervescent Milne was a hot handful for Waddell, and honours were about even between the two. Baird's second outing as a left half-back was no more successful than the first, hard though he tried.
But it was in attack that the Dons were really disappointing. Compared to the St Mirren quintette they were a lifeless lot for three-quarters of the game, and their ineptitude in the penalty area made things easv for the stick-at-nothing Paisley defence, in which Telfer and Smith were outstanding.
It was not a great game by any means, but the three spectacular goals by the Saints helped to lighten the proceedings.
Willie Reid scored the first in twenty-seven minutes with terrific shot from fully twenty-five yards.
Johnstone was facing a blinding sun, but it is questionable if could have got to the ball, which entered the net just beneath the junction of post and bar.
The goalkeeper never saw the free kick by Walter Reid which gave the home side their second goal in thirty-five minutes. He never moved as the ball flashed into the net.
Fate Sealed

Fifteen minutes after the restart St Mirren sealed the Dons' fate.
This time it was Burrell who scored. He took a pass from Reid in his stride and slammed in a shot which Johnstone touched on its way to the far corner of the net.
Kelly's goal fourteen minutes from time was a face-saver for the Dons. He was up in time to slide home a cross from Harris.

Source: Press & Journal, 1st September 1948