Aberdeen 9 - 0 Queen of the South

Pittodrie Goal Rush Beats Motherwell on Average

By NORMAN MACDONALD

Shock for 'Well

Motherwell must have got the shock of their lives when they heard the Pittodrie score. Leading 2-0 at half-time at Paisley to the Dons' 1-0 against Queen of the South, the Lanarkshire team looked a certainty to qualify.
It was 100-1 against the Dons making the grade The long shot came off, thanks to a goal-rush in the second half, when the forwards were on the target eight times.
It's interesting, if not profitable, to dip into the realms of what might have been. Had the Dons beaten Queen of the South 9-1 Motherwell would have qualified by .33 of a goal.
Queen of the South's misfortune was Aberdeen's good fortune. Fate was kind to the Dons. Would they have reached the last eight had the Dumfries team been at full strength for the ninety minutes? I doubt it very much.
After the fourth goal Queen of the South played with nine men. With less than twenty mintes played Dempsey, their inside left, received an ankle injury. He took no really active part in the game from that point and eventually left the field twenty-one minutes from the end.
Then, immediately the restart, witfcf Aberdeen leading by single goal, Wilson, the Dumfries keeper, was injured and retired to the pavilion. In getting down to a low shot from Millar he received a compound fracture of the little finger of his left hand and had to go to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for treatment.
James, the left back, took over the goalkeeper's jersey, and it became question of by how many goals the Dons would win.
Aberdeen were the better team from the start. There's little doubt they would have won, but not so emphatically.
Stan Williams is the detonator that has been missing from the Aberdeen explosives in recent weeks. He and George Hamilton working as a team, were good to watch. Mental telepathy seemed to exist between them. Time and again they were planning a move ahead of the opposition.
There was an improvement in the Pittodrie attack, but they will be given a severer test by Dundee this week.
McCall was the only home forward who failed to find the net. Both he and Baird played below form. The defence had little to do in the second half, yet for them the game was a war nerves. They knew they couldn't afford to lose a single goal.

Waddell Best

In Waddell I thought Aberdeen had the best half-back on the field. He was cool and resourceful in defence, and a shrewd and useiul cog in the attacking machine.
For courage and tenacity the palm goes to Willie Aird, the Queen the South centre half. Even when all was lost this greathearted player refused to abandon the fight.
Savage, James (both at back and when he went into goal), and Sharpe were other gallant fighters for the Dumfries team.
The Dons' only goal of the first half was scored in twenty two minutes. Hamilton shot from a pass from McCall, and Aird slightly deflected his shot past the 'keeper into the net.

Goal Avalanche

The Pittodrie goal avalanche started within ten minutes of the resumption, when a smart move by Baird, Waddell, and Hamilton ended in Williams netting from close range. Two minutes later Hamilton raced into the middle in pursuit of a pass that had been intercepted and smashed the ball into the net.
The fourth came in eighteen minutes, Baird neatly heading home a corner kick from Millar. In twenty-four minutes Williams was rather lucky to deflect the ball past the 'keeper following a corner on the left, and two minutes later a shot by Millar entered the goal off the upright.
Williams scrambled the ball home again in twenty-eight minutes, after Hamilton had headed on a Cowie lob, and in the last ten minutes the inside right had the ball in the net again twice.

Source: Press & Journal, 15th September 1947

The match programme for this game devoted a page to discussing the necessary arithmetic requirements that would face the Dons depending on the scoreline between Motherwell and St Mirren.

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