Morton 1 - 2 Aberdeen

By NORMAN MACDONALD

ARE the Dons Hampden Park bound again this year? They've a double chance. Already in the semi-final of the League Cup, at Greenock on Saturday they won through to the last eight in the Scottish Cup.

Their victory over Morton, even if only by the odd goal in three, was a sound performance. The Dons are playing well. They have confidence in themselves and in each other - they're playing as a team.
Dundee stand between them and a place among the chosen four in the Scottish Cup. Saturday first at 3 p.m. is zero and Dens Park the field of battle.
The players are confident they can make the grade against their old rivals. They have every reason to be. It's little more than a week since they beat Dundee 1-0 at Dens Park, and last Wednesday they corroborated the verdict at Pittodrie.
To return to Saturday's replay at Greenock. Morton made a fight of it all right, but victory went to the better team. Aberdeen had a poise and precision that the Greenock team lacked.

Badly Shaken

Yet there was a period when the Dons were badly shaken. With a clever hook shot from a lob from Steel, McKillop made the score 2-1 fifteen minutes after the start of the second half. The Greenock men took a new lease of life. They adopted storming tactics and the Dons were flying distress signals.
They weathered the storm, however, and in the closing ten minutes the pattern-weaving of the forwards had the Morton defence in dire straits. In this brief spell the Dons should have emphasised their superiority by increasing their lead.
Millar was the man who had the best opportunities. But the young right winger, usually only too willing to have a go, revealed an unexpected hesitancy.
Both the Pittodrie team's goals were the result of well-planned and smartly executed moves. Take the first in sixteen minutes. Harris fastened on to the ball in the middle and sent it ahead to Williams. Covered bv the ever-attentive Aird, the South African whipped it out the left. McCall came in to meet it first time and the ball went into the net with the speedof a bullet. I doubt if McFeat, the Morton 'keeper, saw the ball until he picked it out of the back of the net.
Eleven minutes from the interval came No. 2. Waddell put McCall in possession and the winger piloted the ball on to Williams, who had taken up position on the touchline. Aird was there in his capacity as policeman, but the Dons' leader cleverly tricked the centre half and crossed the ball into the goalmouth. There was Hamilton, ready and waiting, and he back-headed the ball into the corner of the net before the Morton defence realised the danger.
Stan Williams seems to have regained his confidence and his form. The pocket-size South African was a headache to the Morton defence. Tricky and elusive, he was the best forward afield.

Brighter McCall

We saw a brighter and better McCall, too, and that was a trimmer of a shot with which he opened the scoring. Hamilton and Harris were hard-working inside men.
Skipper Frank Dunlop carried the honours in defence. With head and feet he barred the way ip the middle. McLaughlln and Waddell were strong wing halves. The former received a head injury just on the interval which temporarily blinded him in the left eye. He went on the left wine with McCall at left half and Waddell on the right after the interval. When Morton scored the Aberdeen team resumed its original formation.
Cooper and McKenna were a strong-tackling and clean-kicking pair of backs. And a special pat on the back for veteran Willie Cooper. It was his third cup-tie within a week and he came through with flying colours.
I think Johnstone's save of the match was during Morton's second-half revival. Mclnnes let go a terrific shot. It was labelled equaliser, but the big Aberdeen 'keeper, with an almost nonchalant one-handed flip, sent it over the bar.
Morton's defence battled gamely. Aird was a sound and reliable centre half and Maley and Fyfe a pair of backs who believed in the first-time clearance.
McKillop, I thought, was the best forward. He took over the leadership of the attack in the second half because Henderson received an injury similar to McLaughlin's. Mclnnes on the left wing was the only other Morton forward worthy of mention. The line did not knit.

Source: Press & Journal, 10th March 1947