Aberdeen win at our expense.

A Peter Pawlett goal 15 minutes from time settled this end of season affair in Aberdeen's favour.  This ensured the sides finish the season with two wins apiece.  This was youngster Pawlett's first goal for the Don's and it was enough to see off a lethargic Inverness. 

Russell Duncan was on the bench and the diminutive Macdonald replaced the suspended Foran, who was missed for his energy and ball retention skills.

 Aberdeen had the better of the early chances but Shane Sutherland forced a fingertip save from Langfield in the second half, however Pawlett had the final say when he scored a neat goal to snatch all three points away from Inverness.

Davie will tell us how it all unfolded when he returns from the Costa del Pittodrie.

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"Good grief, that was ninety minutes of my life I'll never have back" - hislopsoffsideagain 1st May 2011

A quick scan of this site, P&B and other august temples of informative banter shows a game that, in truth, both sets of fans could hardly rouse themselves for. Hardly a whimper for the matchday forum, not a squeak from the lunatic fringe on P&B. Pittodrie was curiously bathed in sunshine; the locals were tanning/defrosting from blue to white (although there were fewer than 7000 of them) and the pitch looked in good nick; even the seagulls appeared more benevolent than normal.

All the ingredients were there for an open attractive game, the outcome mattering little to either side so there was no reason for the SPL speciality of defeat avoidance. As little as ten minutes of playing time was enough to disabuse any such thoughts; this was a guttering fag-end of a game that both sides appeared too lethargic to play.

The game started as it went on, with Aberdeen having the bulk of the possession but doing little constructive with it; there were attempts by Aluko and Milsom that eventually aroused Stuart Duff enough after 15 minutes to hoof said Aluko and provoke a yellow card. Shane Sutherland was looking fine and direct again, but struggled as a lack of support from a lightweight midfield denied him both a source of ball and anywhere to pass the thing to when he got it. His drive that forced Langfield into a good save was provoked by his directness; it almost paid dividends.  Gillet was showing well, apart from one bomb scare moment, and was booked in 28 minutes, just when he thought that the ref had forgotten. Aberdeen, meanwhile, racked up the chances, Diamond, Blackman, Paton and Maguire all passing up quality opportunities. Diamonds especially was of staggering ineptitude.

Half Time: Aberdeen 0 ICT 0.

The second half began with a realisation that this game would be won by the team that woke up first. It recommenced as the same dour struggle that characterised the first 45, but Caley came into things a bit more. Opportunities came for Rooney, but the telling intervention was Tokely's clearance off the line from a captain Esson parry. It stayed the same until 75 minutes, when PAWLETT, on as a substitute for Paton, fired home from close range. There was never really any way back from that and the game petered out with, if anything, Aberdeen looking likelier to profit further.

Full Time: Aberdeen 1 ICT 0

As Hislopsoffsideagain said, that's 90 minutes of his life he's not getting back. In truth ICT looked as if injury, suspension and absence had finally taken an unsurmountable toll of a team that struggled manfully, but never looked likely to achieve. Even when Russell Duncan made a quite poignant cameo, the game was gone as surely as his massive contribution in these parts. That's not to forget everything he's done this season and we should be the same about the team as a whole. Let's see what happens against Celtic - it's got to be better than this. 

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No a great days entertainment then davie?  We'll try and get you to something a bit more exciting before the season's out.  I hear the world championships for watching paint dry is coming up shortly.