Thirteen proved lucky for Aberdeen as they survived a Hearts storm to keep pace with Celtic at the top of the table.
It looked for all the world that Jimmy Thelin’s were going to drop their first points of the season. But Liam Fox‘s visitors let them off the hook big time with some woeful finishing before Jorge Grant’s red card sparked the Reds into life and they sneaked a late victory after finally putting the Jambos under some pressure towards the end.
If Hearts had in fact turned a corner in Azerbaijan, they’d retreated back round it after just two minutes at Pittodrie Stephen Kingsley was dispossessed in a dangerous area, and that allowed Topi Keskinen to shoot from an angle, the ball cannoning off Kye Rowles and leaving Craig Gordon helpless.
The Dons almost undid their early good fortune when Lawrence Shankland was presented with the ball in their box, dead centre of goal. But he fired straight at a grateful Dimitar Mitov. The Hearts skipper then missed another glorious chance at the back post before Jorge Gant sent a Daniel Oyegoke cross straight at Mitov as the Jambos threatened a leveller.
In fairness, Hearts weren’t playing like a team at the bottom of the table and the equaliser was deserved when it arrived. Mitov flapped it a Penrice corner and Shankland sent the ball to the back post over the stranded keeper, where Frankie Kent was on hand to stoop and head home from close range.
Another golden opportunity went begging just before half time. Yan Dhanda’s crossing again caused problems and he picked out Rowles but he mistimed his jump and sent a free header narrowly wide.
The capital club should have gone ahead early in the second period. Kenneth Vargas darted in on goal and rather than sliding Shankland in for a tap in, the Costa Rican chipped well over the bar to the fury of his skipper and disbelieving Jambos everywhere.
Eventually, Hearts made it count. Given the far easier opportunities spurned, it wasn’t even really a chance but Blair Spittal swept a fine strike into the bottom corner from just shy of 25 yards. The lead last barely a few minutes. Keskinen’s cross is cut out by Rowles but falls at the feet of Nicky Devlin, who adjusts well and sends an improvised finish into the far corner.
The pendulum swung further towards the hosts when Hearts went down to ten men. Jorge Grant chased Duk down the touchline and took him down from behind, which resulted in a second yellow and an early bath.
That finally saw Thelin’s men take the initiative as Hearts camped in to defend. A vital Kent block kept out a Sokler header from close range with four minutes to go. The winner did arrive though when Duk burst past Adam Forrester and cut back for Ante Palversa to fire into the roof of the net and to keep the amazing run going.
Awesome Aberdeen
Just when you think the run is going to come to an end, the Dons do it again. At Dundee they were the poorer side but won. And again at Pittodrie, Hearts suddenly found some form and pushed their best-of-the-rest rivals all the way. But as well as the fact they were up against 10 men, the DOns also have a togetherness and inner steel that is proving difficult to contend with. And former £7million Man City man Palversa hit a beautiful finish to ensure it’s now 13 wins in a row for Thelin’s stars. Can they go all the way? Maybe not but with each passing week, it’s becoming increasingly hard to answer that in the negative.
All on red
There was some confusion over Jorge Grant’s sending off in that everyone seemed to have missed his first, which was for dissent in the wake of Aberdeen’s second goal. To then make the tackle he did knowing he was walking a tightrope was stupid in the extreme. It was the catalyst for Aberdeen waking up and they pressed home their one man advantage to keep up their perfect record.
Wasteful Hearts
The number of chances hearts missed was always likely to come back to bite them. Lawrence Shankland needs to find his shooting boots quickly. The striker has had the most shots of any player in the league with one goal to show for it. And there was no excuse for Vargas’ decision making when through on goal. It’s a real problem when they can’t keep the back door shut and Aberdeen will be thanking their lucky stars there were still in a position to mount a comeback. Hearts are yet to take the lead in a game this season. It partially explains their lowly position in the table as a combination of starting poorly, missing chances and conceding sloppy goals has been killing them. They’ve shown their powers of recovery in recent matches, but getting into a position of strength from the off might make life a little easier going forward.