Come on You Redz!

				Fixture List 2001/2002
July			F-A
Sat 7	A	Elgin City	2-0	And they're off! Pre-season friendlies aren't supposed to be about scoring loads of goals, they are intended to get the players tuned up and ready for the serious stuff to start. Still, this was a strong Dandies side so perhaps we might be forgiven to look for more than two goals. Bisconti got the first and Winters took the second late on. The Dons made six changes in the second half, so maybe their rhythm was disrupted, but at least the great game is under way once more.
Thur 12	A	Koge	1-3	The Dons lost out here when Whyte took a nasty face knock. The team just couldn't get it together after his loss and it took them until well into the second half before Zero managed to grab his first goal in ages and that is probably the most positive aspect of this unexpectedly tough work out.
Sun 15	A	Brondby	1-2	Robbie Winters scored for the Dons who were 2-0 down at half-time. In what is reported to have been a much better performance than their shocker against Koge, they had the ball in the net late on but the referee denied them the equaliser. Not the encouragement we have been looking for, but let's hope they keep improving in their last Danish game as time runs out before the big kick-off.
Tue 17	A	Farum	3-1	At last a win on foreign soil and in Ebbe's homeland at that. The scorers were Solberg, form a penalty, Bett and Lilley and the performance was an improvement on the Brondby match so there might be a bit of a trend emerging. We haven't really seen the Dandies field their strongest possible side yet so we have room to hope for their continuing progress but breath should not yet be held. Zero's sending off was daft and he'll have to watch out in case too many Scottish refs have read about it and decided that they are the boys to sort him out.
Sat 21	A	Ross County	3-2	The Dons scraped a victory with a late goal by Kevin McNaughton after first Derek Young and then Thomas Solberg got them back on level terms against County. Sloppy defending seems to have played its part in the struggle since the first goal was lost after only a few seconds of the match. The pre-season is over with nothing much to write home about and the huns coming to Todders next Saturday. Are we ready? Now there's a question....
Sat 28	H	hunz	0-3	These defeats are always hard to bear, especially at Pittodrie, but this was a fighting display by the dons and the three goal margin didn't reflect the run of play. Referee Young, as usual did his best to help his Glasgow mates along, something that does them no real favours when they have pretensions of progress in Europe, but in the end it was our own defensive mistakes that gave the huns the match. There's certainly no reason for the Red Army to be downhearted because of this and in fact they can take some heart from it. There was no lack of effort or commitment and the heads never went down, something that will help carry us through other difficult matches. Our lack of fire power up front cost us dear though. Bisconti looked good whilst he was on the park and should get better as he adjusts to the hectic pace of the Scottish game. What we desperately need are the promised reinforcements and then we can start putting other teams on the back foot.
August
Sat 4	A	Hearts	0-1	Bugger it, two games into the season and no goals. The problem is so glaringly obvious - we need a fucking striker and we need him instantly. Our other experienced forwards can't keep fit let alone finish off chances so we need somebody to get in there who can get on the end of crosses and stick em in the net or knock down for team-mates. Seems a simple concept so why don't the bods at Pittodrie get on with it?
Sat 11	A	Hibees	0-2	No guts, no guile, no penetration, no creativity, no leadership, no ideas, no money, no strikers, no goals, no hope. PLAYED: 3 GOALS: 0 POINTS: 0 POSITION: 11
Sat 18	H	Motherwell	4-2	If we had a burly striker playing up front this rout would have been an absolute massacre. Motherwell were handed their goals on a silver plated AFC defensive platter but could do little other than foul persistently to stop us clocking up that first, much needed, victory of the season. Thornley, Winters, Mackie and Zerouali were the scorers and Bisconti must be most people's man of the match. He did everything but score, showing tremendous fight in the midfield and throwing himself at every cross into the Motherwell box. Now we've got to get a target man signed and go and turn over St. Johnstone to get the show more firmly on the road. PLAYED: 4 GOALS: 4 POINTS: 3 POSITION: 10
Sat 25	A	St. Johnstone	1-1	Plenty of action in this game, but the usual ultra-slack defending cost the Dons two points. They were looking comfortable after a headed goal by McGuire. In the second half, Zerouali missed a sitter and then a penalty after Dadi was brought down. Frustrating as hell - we should have won this and Derek Whyte in particular needs to get some serious work done in sorting out our ongoing defensive frailties. PLAYED: 5 GOALS: 5 POINTS: 4 POSITION: 10
September
Sat 8	H	Kilmarnock	2-0	A victory and a clean sheet all in the one match. It wasn't a great game, especially the first half when the weather ruined proceedings, but the Dandies ruled the roost in the second with Ben Thornley getting the two goals. Killie are a stuffy side packed with niggling bastards who'll foul an opponent as soon as look at them, but they were no match for the Dons in any respect today. Dadi's not match fit yet, but he'll go for anything and make defenders lives hell. Bisconti is the Dandy who makes the difference.   PLAYED: 6 GOALS: 7 POINTS: 7 POSITION: 9
Sat 15	H	Arabs	2-1	A satisfying, if hard won victory over our Dundonian rivals. Dadi played a big part in this, as did Zerouali. Winters scored a penalty when Dadi was brought down in the box when running in on goal and Zero conjured up a bit of magic to get the winner. The Arabz got two of their own sent off and tightly so - rules, after all, are rules. Smiffy blustered that they were the better team, but the Red Army know otherwise and can revel for a while at seeing the Dons at their highest position in the SPL for ages. PLAYED: 7 POINTS: 10 POSITION: 5
Sat 22	A	tims	0-2	Ebbe persisted with his 'damage limitation' approach today and we got the beating that an approach like that deserves. Would it have been any different if Bisconti had been available? Maybe not, but yet again the traveling fans sang their hearts out for no reward, not even the satisfaction of seeing the Dandies getting stuck right in. The approach had better be much more positive at Dens Park. PLAYED: 8 POINTS: 10 POSITION: 7
Tue 25	A	League Cup 2R Queen of the South	2-1	After the negative approach at Parkhead, Ebbe promised us that his Dons would have a real go at QOS; sadly the performance didn't live up to the promise and it was as much the heroics of Esson as the goals of Dadi and Thornley that got us through this tie. In the second half the part-timers put the Redz on the rack and turned the screw a good few times so that in the end we were grateful to get through to the draw for round three.
Sat 29	A	Jutes	4-1	This was a comfortable win in the end, but Dundee had us on the rack for a fair while before we overcame their mixture of tricky football and deceitful behaviour. A Zerouali hat-trick and nice keeper-rounding job by Mackie gave us the goals. Referee Underhill featured far too large in this game and allowed himself to be conned by the diving and playacting of the Jute imports throughout the game. He was ably assisted in his incompetence by the far side linesman who always failed to notice the offside Dundee players but flagged against the Dons at every chance. The worst failings of the officials were when Zero was celebrating his third goal and Del Rio 'interfered' and then when Derek Young was blatantly crocked by Gatti - right in front of the offending linesman - and zip was done about it. PLAYED: 9 POINTS: 13 POSITION: 5
October
Tue 9		League Cup 3R Livingston	1-6	We were shite. Mackie scored.
Sat 13	A	Livingston		Credibility and pride went a good way towards being restored here, with the Redz battling back from 2-0 down to earn a battling draw. Darren Mackie scored both our goals and could have won it but for a sorry piece of finishing right at the end. Loads of Rudolphs showed up for this one to show the now legendary loyalty and were well rewarded, but they deserve even more. PLAYED: 10 POINTS: 14 POSITION: 5
Sat 20	H	Dunfermline	3-2	Aberdeen really are their own worst enemies.In the first half the Dandies lived up to their nickname and tore Dunfermline apart, deserving to go in at least 5 up instead of just the 3 (courtesy of Winters 2 and Solberg). In the second half, though, they just came out thinking that it was all over bar the shouting and allowed the Paralytics to fight their way back into the match. Okay, we might have scored again on the second half but we didn't and it was nail biting stuff near the end as we clung on for the 3 points. They should have sent the fans home happy but instead sent us away aggrieved about such a poor second half. Must do better! PLAYED: 11 POINTS: 17 POSITION: 4
Sat 27	H	Tarts		The Dons well deserved their victory over the evil Jambos and their inconsistent ally, the referee, in this hard fought scrap. The two goals that we conceded were once again straight out of our defense's manual of monumental blunders and we have to wonder whether our new keeper is going to be a great Dane or a great dumpling. Time alone will give us the clues on that. Dadi, Winters (penalty) and Derek Young got the goals, Thornley got himself sent off and the Dons got the win. PLAYED: 12 POINTS: 20 POSITION: 4
November
Sun 4	A	huns	0-2	The first half was a rout, started with Solberg's characteristic bad passing in defence. We really needed Bisconti to get more snap in the midfield. The second half saw the Reds making a game of it but they couldn't find a way back and yet again we failed to pick up anything in Glasgow (apart from a few small infections and a couple of kickings). PLAYED: 13 POINTS: 20 POSITION: 4
Sat 10	H	Motherwell	1-0	A good goal by Dadi and only our second clean sheet of the season secured the victory. We had no bite in midfield without Bisconti and Motherwell could have found their way back into the game but for poor finishing. Ebbe's right not to be interested in the statistics of how many games in a row we may have won, there is still some serious work to do with the Dons to make them into a quality side. He's not going to be able to do it by spending so it's a case of carefully molding the players we've got. PLAYED: 14 POINTS: 23 POSITION: 4
Sat 17	H	Hibees	2-0	Robbie Winters drifted into the all time Dons top fifty scorers in this match, which is about all he did really. Zero grabbed the other in our late procurement of the three points and it was a hard earned victory. Hibs had a lot of possession in the first half and wove pretty patterns outside the 18 yard box without ever being too much of a threat. The Dons took a while to get a hold of the game, but when they did they looked much more eager and dangerous. We could get used to this winning habit, but not for a long while yet. PLAYED: 15 POINTS: 26 POSITION: 4
Sat 24	A	Motherwell	3-2	This was not Phil McGuire's day with an own goal and a muffed clearance for the 2nd Motherwell effort. Winters and Zerouali pulled it back to 2-2 and although Motherwell won out in the end, it was another authoritative display by the Dandies who deserved far more from the game. Zero's goal has to be a contender at least for goal of the month. We need to convert this kind of play into wins though or we'll start to lose ground and that is not in the script. PLAYED: 16 POINTS: 26 POSITION: 4
Tue 27		League Cup QF		Not for us after that Livvy gubbing!
December
Sat 1	H	St. Johnstone	1-0	Winters scored a fine goal tanks to a good cut-back from Mackie but the Dons struggled to threaten the St. Johnstone keeper thereafter and risked dropping 2 points in front of their biggest home crowd in ages. PLAYED: 17 POINTS: 29 POSITION: 4
Sat 8	A	Kilmarnock	1-3	Continuing inability to turn decent outfield play into points is doing the Dons no favours. They can dominate the midfield in most matches but finishing is woeful and the defence keeps finding new ways of letting us down. We still don't have enough points on the board to avoid relegation but compared to recent seasons we are coasting it. PLAYED: 18 POINTS: 29 POSITION: 4
Sat 15	A	Arabs	1-1	A battling draw with a Winters penalty getting us the point. The Redz didn't play too well which is a warning sign not to be ignored. A lot of the home victories have been achieved despite some ropey play and we have to remember just how far there is to go before we have a really strong side on the park. PLAYED: 19 POINTS: 30 POSITION: 4
Sat 22	H	tims	2-0	The Dons easily deserved this long awaited victory. Celtic came to play a physical, high ball game and failed to play any football of note. Their persistent cheating caught them out when the otherwise ineffectual referee spotted Hartson handling the ball in their box. Winters bashed the penalty away with aplomb and Mackie clinched it at the death by getting past the dodgy keeper. This was a real morale boosting win and might even help us start improving on our scrappy away form. PLAYED: 20 POINTS: 33 POSITION: 4
Wed 26	H	Jutes		Postponed to Tuesday 29th January - 7:45 p.m. kick-off.
Sat 29	A	Dunfermline	0-1	What is it that enters the minds of the Dandies as they board the bus to head south? It sure isn't a winning mentality and suddenly that 4th place that has been theirs for weeks is beginning to look vulnerable. How they can manage to be invincible at home and incapable away is a complete mystery. Dunfermline are no great shakes and we should have beaten them. PLAYED: 21 POINTS: 33 POSITION: 4
January 2002
Wed 2	H	Livingston	0-3	Another pathetic showing against this lot. It's a mystery beyond reason as to why because whilst Livingston are strong and competent there is nothing outstanding about them and we should be able to turn them over on our own turf at least. We need to get back to winning ways pretty quickly or 4th place will slip away. PLAYED: 21 POINTS: 33 POSITION: 4
Sat 5	A	Cup 2R - St. Johnstone	2-0	Good solid away Cup performance by the Redz with Thornley and Darren Young providing the necessary goals. Next up a tough away SPL match at Tynecattle - have we had a big enough boost here?
Sat 12	A	Tarts	1-3	Gubbed, despite getting that psychologically crucial equaliser just on half time. Bisconti gets his first goal and sent off for sheer petulance, but we never were at the races in the second half. What the hell is it with traveling? If we don't watch out we'll be waving ta ta to the top six. PLAYED:23 POINTS: 33 POSITION: 5
Sat 19	H	huns	0-1	A match ruined by sickening crowd trouble that flared up for no good reason and there never is a good reason. The football paled into insignificance but rangers seemed to benefit more from the disruption of play and Amoruso scored a tremendous goal to put them in front. Having said that, the Dandies got back into it and if they had just pressed a bit harder and more directly in the latter stages of the match, they might well at leased have pulled it back. Only results elsewhere allowed us to maintain our league place, but the way things have gone lately it looks more precarious by the week. PLAYED: 24 POINTS: 33 POSITION: 5
Wed 23	A	Hibees	4-3	The rarest of the rare, an away win for the Dandies and not a moment too soon. Goals by Dadi, Winters and Guntveit were pulled back by Hibees before Mackie got the winner by mopping up the rebound from a Darren Young penalty that was saved by the Hibs goalie. Let's hope that this win will get the Dons into a better frame of mind for their travels in future and set them up to deal with Livvy come Saturday. PLAYED: 25 POINTS: 36 POSITION: 4
Sat 26		Cup 3R - Livingston	2-0	In front of a disappointingly small crowd, the Dandies stamped their authority on the tie from the start and finally but the "hoodoo" nonsense to rest. The played an almost perfect first half and easily deserved to win the game and the prospect of a money spinning home tie in the quarter finals. Winters and McAllister scored the goals and the AFC onfield rehabilitation moves another step forward.
Tue 29	H	Jutes	0-0	Not often these days that the Dandies fail to score, especially at Pittodrie and in fact they made some great chances here but dismally failed to take them. Dundee made some pretty patterns on the soggy turf but threatened little and were really only interested in gaining a point. Our boys should have tried a bit more direct play but instead chose to keep passing across the park. If we were to sign Thomson from QPR maybe we could seriously consider the odd attempt at Route 1. PLAYED: 26 POINTS: 37 POSITION: 4
Wed 30	H	Motherwell		MOVED BACK to Sat 10th November and another Dandies win.
February
Sat 2	A	St. Johnstone	1-0	Not a great game but valuable points with Dadi getting the goal. Shame that Livingston won, preventing us from closing the gap, but at least we are beginning to pick up away points to add to the impressive home total. PLAYED: 27 POINTS: 40 POSITION: 4
Tue 5		League Cup SF		No interest for us, sadly.
Sat 9	H	Kilmarnock	1-1	Kilmarnock came to Pittodrie with all the strong-arm tactics that characterise Williamson's management style and when this was blended with the truly wimpish refereeing of Kevin Toner, the Dandies had to face a rough afternoon. Fortunately for us the present day Reds, as Celtic found in December, are not the kind to be bullied out of a game and they fought back to equalise the dodgy penalty with a timely goal from Phil McGuire. A top six place is looking good, but the Dandies could really keep the fans' interest up if they were to start closing the gap on Livingston and a European place. PLAYED: 28 POINTS: 41 POSITION: 4
Sat 16	H	Arabs	4-0	This was so easy for the Redz as winters, Derek Young with two and debut striker Leon Mike whacked away the goals at one end whilst the defence remained solid to get us another shutout at the other. United players tried a bit of the rough stuff, but any team that tries that on with the Dandies these days is wasting its time. The pace of the strikers, the sheer hard work of the midfield and the solidity of the defence meant that the Arabs had no chance and the Dandies continued to reinforce the massive improvement we have enjoyed this season. PLATED: 29 POINTS: 44 POSITION: 4
Mon 25		Cup QF - Celtic	0-2	The brutal truth is that the Dandies didn't play well enough in this game and so they lost their last chance of silverware for another season. We just have to hope that it was a learning experience and that they can take as much from it as possible. No on to the next game,
March
Sat 2	A	celtic	0-1	With a bit more gumption the Dons could have won this game, but they dithered and held back and in the end lost to a dubious penalty and had the situation compounded by the loss of Zerouali, their main attacker at the time, in questionable circumstances. Now they really need to shape up and take points at Dundee - they have missed a great chance of closing up on faltering Livingston and mustn't let that happen again. PLAYED: 30 POINTS: 44 POSITION: 4
Sat 9	A	Jutes	3-2	Despite being seriously under strength, the Dandies showed all their best qualities to fight back from 2-0 down to gain a well deserved victory. A guaranteed top six place was secured and Darren Young, Russell Anderson and Darren Mackie got the goals that sent Dundee to second bottom of the league, a position the richly deserve because of their constant cheating and sneaky violent play that seems to con referees so easily. For once the results elsewhere suited the Redz down to the ground and they are now well placed to overhaul Livingston - even before the top six split. PLAYED: 31 POINTS: 47 POSITION: 3=
Sat 16	H	Dunfermline	1-0	The classic game of two halves, with the Dandies totally dominating the first, Leon Mike getting us the lead and loads of pressure to keep the Paralytics pined back but nobody managing to convert the chances. Great entertainment though and wasn't it great to see Fungushun having a tantrum at his early substitution. The second half saw a reorganised Dunfermline getting much more into it without ever really stretching the Red defence and the points were all the more welcome when we heard the results from elsewhere. It's just magic to have something left to play for this late in the season - the Dandies are on the way back with a vengeance. PLAYED: 32 POINTS: 50 POSITION: 3
Sun 17		League Cup Final		Hard lines Ayr.
Sat 23	A	Livingston		Kenny Clark - is he a referee or a moron? How many ways can one man ruin a game? Well Clark did his best to find as many of them as he possibly could - and he did it for everybody at Almondvale, not just the red Army. No way should Darren Young have been sent off, but once he was the players responded superbly and Livingston failed to capitalise on their extra man. Okay, we might have given away a penalty, but justice was done on the end. Safe to say that had we had our vice captain on the field for the ninety minutes Livvy would be drowning their sorrows after a defeat. PLAYED: 33 POINTS: 51 POSITION: 3
Sat 23		Cup SF
April
Sat 6	A	Dunfermline		Boring or what? The thrills were far outweighed by the spills in this one and that was probably with Dunfermline trying their hardest to get all three points. It the Redz had got their act together they could have added to their meager collection of away wins, but the seemed happy enough to settle for a point. The main plus was that they kept a clean sheet and moved a wee bit further ahead of Livvy. PLAYED: 34 POINTS: 52 POSITION: 3
Sat 13	H	Hearts	2-3	Well we really screwed up here. Naiive defending in the last few minutes let us down but there were also chance to extend the lead when we went 2-1 up so maybe we got what we deserved. It certainly makes next weekend's game against Livingston all the more important. Rutkiewicz scored the first and Winters ended a personal lean spell with the second. PLAYED: 35 POINTS: 52 POSITION: 3
Sat 20	H	Livingston	3-0	Danish Day at Todders didn't save Livingston's bacon as the Dandies trounced the visitors with a fine display. Mackie did the damage and made up for his misses against Hearts last week. Mike, McGuire and Mackie grabbed the goals and AFC gained the headlines as they won their way into the UEFA Cup on merit. PLAYED: 36 POINTS: 55 POSITION: 3
Sat 27	A	hunz	0-2	A shocking away day display by a team that probably reckoned that they had done enough by guaranteeing a place in Europe when they beat Livingston a week earlier. The manager has to carry the can too though, he has the job of motivating the players and he just doesn't do it in Glasgow. In fact, the away from over what has been a relatively successful season has been poor and must be addressed before next season's campaign gets under way. PLAYED: 37 POINTS: 55 POSITION: 3
May
Sat 4		Cup Final
Sun 12	H	Celtic	0-1	This was a con by both sets of players. People bought tickets and turned up but the teams didn't serve up much of a match, especially the Dons. They were far too negative with square and back passing too often instead of getting forward. When we did push up the midfield were slow to follow up. Nonetheless we had our chances but fluffed them and we've lost a bit of valuable momentum. PLAYED: 36 POINTS: 55 POSITION: 4
				See ya next season!
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Anybody care to predict what happens next?