Holders Aberdeen Crash Out Of Scottish Cup With A Whimper Against Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline
· Yahoo Sports
Dunfermline Athletic 3–0 Aberdeen
By Callum McFadden at East End Park
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The game began at a frantic pace in front of a sold-out crowd at East End Park, with the home side eager to move the ball forward quickly and test Aberdeen early on. Despite Dunfermline’s intent, it was Aberdeen who created the first clear-cut chance of the match when Topi Keskinen picked out Kevin Nisbet inside the Dunfermline penalty area. However, his effort was well saved by the legs of ‘Pars goalkeeper Aston Oxborough.
Olly Thomas spurned a glorious opportunity for Dunfermline moments later when he failed to make clean contact with a driven cross from Matty Todd. It did not take much longer for the hosts to take the lead, though. In the 14th minute, Todd fired home a superb volley after a poor headed clearance from Mitchell Frame following a looping cross from Robbie Fraser.
Things went from bad to worse for Aberdeen just eight minutes later when Fraser picked out Thomas, who went one-on-one with ‘Dons goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov and scored at the second attempt.
Peter Leven made a triple substitution at half-time in an effort to change Aberdeen’s fortunes, introducing Olusanya, Nilsen, and Molloy in place of Frame, Cameron, and Milanovic.
Aberdeen started the second half on the front foot and won several corners but failed to seriously trouble the Dunfermline goal.
Any hope of salvaging the tie was extinguished in the 61st minute when Thomas fired past a helpless Mitov to score his second of the match and Dunfermline’s third goal without reply.
The victory secured a place in the Scottish Cup semi-final for Neil Lennon and Dunfermline. Meanwhile, the defeat only deepens Aberdeen’s woes under interim manager Peter Leven. The Dons not only lose their chance to retain the Scottish Cup but also remain ninth in the Scottish Premiership, just eight points above the relegation play-off place with nine games remaining.
Dunfermline: Oxborough; Chilokoa-Mullen, Ngwenya, Gilmour, Todd (Cooper, 80), Amade (Kearney, 66), Thomas (Oakley-Booth, 83), Kane (Hamilton, 66), A. Tod, Turley (Benedictus, 80), Fraser.
Substitutes: Terrell, Benedictus, Hamilton, Kearney, Abdulai, Bray, Cooper, Oakley, Boothe, Fyfe.
Aberdeen: Mitov; Lobban, Milne, McIntyre (Morrison, 76), Frame (Molloy, 45); Shinnie; Armstrong (Lazetic, 74), Cameron (Nilsen, 45), Milanovic (Olusanya, 45), Keskinen; Nisbet.
Substitutes: Vitols, Heltne Nilsen, Bilalovic, Olusanya, Molloy, Morrison, Lazetic, Jensen, Aremu.