Dundee 1 - 2 Aberdeen

Goal of a Lifetime Came When Players at Dens Could Hardly Raise a Gallop
By NORMAN MACDONALD

SHAKE hands with Stan Williams, 5ft. 5in. and 9st. of boundless iootball energy from South Africa. He it was who, after 129 minutes of gruelling, relentless, stamina-sapping Cup-tie football at Dens Park, produced the goal that planted the Dons firmly on the road to Hampden Park and the Scottish Cup final.

It was a goal in a thousand. A goal that will go down in football history. It came when few of the twenty-two players could raise a gallop, and when most were literally staggering with fatigue.
McCall lobbed the ball up the left, and Baird headed it down to Williams. The diminutive Springbok was tired but game. He controlled the ball and appeared to take an interminable time to deliver his shot. When he shot, Lynch, the Dundee 'keeper, had no chance. The ball whizzed into the inside of the side net.
So did the Dons qualify to meet Arbroath at Dens Park in the semi-final on April 12, and so were the hopes of Dundee, a team that fought valiantly and well, buried for another year.
It was a pity that either team had to lose. If ever a game deserved to be replayed, it was this one.
Other highlights of this game which will live long in the memory of all who saw it were the accident to Cooper and McKenna; the grand display of Frank Dunlop, the Dons' captain; Lynch's save of the day from Harris three minutes from the end of the ninety minutes; Ewan's glorious opening goal for Dundee; and the battle of the veterans - Reg Smith and Willie Cooper.
Ten minutes from the interval Cooper and McKenna collided during a fierce Dundee attack. The left back had to leave the field and have two stitches inserted in a wound above the eye. Cooper carried on until the interval, but during the break he, too, had to have a couple of stitches inserted in the side of his head.
It was during McKenna's absence that Dundee got the first goal. A misdirected pass by Baird saw Ewan pounce on the ball. He veered to the left and his shot from the edge of the penalty area went flashing into the net off the post.

GREAT SAVE BY LYNCH

Then that save of Lynch's, but for which Aberdeen would have won within the ninety minutes. Harris broke clear on the right. His first shot was blocked, but he regained possession and his second attempt was rocketing its way towards the net when the 'keeper shot out his fist and, more by guess than by intention, deflected the ball for a corner.
Both Cooper and Smith are due special credit. They stayed the pace better than some of their team-mates. The Dundee winger was magnificent in his efforts to turn the tide during extra time, and Cooper was cool and resourceful throughout.
Frank Dunlop, in my opinion, played one of his best games of the season. Time and again, with head and feet, he successfully challenged the eager Dundee forwards. He faced a fast, strong and untiring opponent in Juliussen and he wrote finis to the Dundee shooting star's scoring record.
The Dark Blues' goal came five minutes from the interval. They deserved it. They were the more aggressive team in this period. They were quicker on the ball than the Dons.
Aberdeen's equaliser was a combined affair and arrived when the second half was fifteen minutes old. Lynch pushed out a cross from Harris. McCall sent the ball back to Hamilton and the inside right flicked it to Williams. Before he could be tackled the centre toed the ball into the roof of the net. The Dons were the better team after they drew level.
McLaughlin and Taylor, the Pittodrie wing halves, were not too happy in the first half. They were too busy trying to get a grip of the Dundee forwards to give support to their own attackers. They improved as the game progressed.

BAIRD NOT AT HIS BEST

Williams, with his two goals, was the man who mattered most, but McCall impressed both on the wing and when he switched places with Baird after seventy minutes' play. Hamilton was a hard worker both in attack and in defence.
Archie Baird doesn't yet appear to be 100 per cent fit. He tired before the finish. Few will argue that at his best he is one of the outstanding inside forwards in Scotland, but he is not yet at his best.
In a Dundee team that almost deserved better of fate than defeat, Follon was a grand back and Boyd the most consistent half back. Gunn was a clever and dangerous right winger and Smith and Ewan a good left-wing partnership.
Well played. Aberdeen; hard luck, indeed, Dundee!

Source: Press & Journal, 31st March 1947

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