Vale showed enough killer instinct in front of a healthy home support on Thursday night to see off yet another Scottish League side this year, only this time, they came from The Premier League in the shape of 'young potentials' from Pittodrie.
Manager Steve Paterson travelled through with the squad from Aberdeen knowing that his former side Caley Thistle had already suffered at the feet of freescoring Vale in a friendly earlier this season. In a hastily arranged match the Premier League stragglers filled their bus with as many strikers as possible with coach Duncan Shearer looking to find someone to end the Pittodrie goalscoring drought. In a match that promised many goals ,sadly it would come down to one quick thinking kick and opportunist header to settle the rather alarmingly(for Aberdeen!) even contested affair.

Vale started the match with their strongest side with Manager Greg Carrol looking to give his title-chasing squad a good workout as they have a free weekend this Saturday. Dons Manager Steve Paterson also put out a strong side in what proved to be more of a work out for him - i.e trying to 'work out' who to play and where to play them ! Vale started the livelier side with an attack within the first 5 minutes. Robbie Brown latched on to a through ball an unleashed a hard left foot shot towards the Aberdeen goal. Young James Blanchard from Whitehills showed some of his goalkeeping talent in goal for Aberdeen and parried it out only to the feet of Ian Murray. The youngster then pulled off a terrific second save to justify his place on the park.
5 minutes later and Scott Anderson recovered well to eventually clear a dangerous situation which he himself had put his team under, when he dallied too long in defence.
The Visitors first real shot at goal came in 22 minutes when Michie tried his luck from 20 yards with Vale's Barry Thomson at full stretch to tip round the post. 15 minutes later and the battle of the keepers raged on as Aberdeen's Blanchard was first to react to a great ball from Mike McKenzie, which for the interception by the keeper, was heading straight to the feet of Top Scorer Ian Murray.
Set pieces were always going to be a worry for the home side and the perfect situation for the Premier side to show off their skills so in 38 mins when Aberdeen's Eric Delamoux stepped up to take the visitors first free kick the crowd went silent with anticipation….Sadly for the Frenchman the cheers that greeted his wide and woeful effort were not from the Dons fans!
Vale finished the half with the now obligatory 'Dougal Dash' up the left side taking everyone on , and beating them…….sadly for the Big Fella his teamates weren't quite up to speed and an engaging cross was dealt easily by the visiting defence.

2 minutes into the second half and it was Vale again who came out fighting with Ian Murray rushing forward only to be stopped ,unfairly in Referee Michael Ritchie's eyes, and given a free kick. Barrie Stephen's cross was unfortunately too high and too hard for any Vale player to connect so seconds later the nippy Number 7 tried a low cross which the Dons defended desperately. Mark Chisholm came close with the resultant header being cleared off the line.
8 minutes into the second half and the Boys from the Granite City finally cracked! Following an award of a free kick just inside the halfway line Veteran Nigel Montgomery showed great awareness in flicking the ball quickly over the heads of the Dons defence which landed perfectly for Darren McAllister to run in and loop a header over the advancing keeper and into the net. A great goal, and with Darren sporting his new 'bleached blonde' look, quite literally one of the highlights of the match !
On the hour mark spectators were afforded their first "Ooohh!" of the match as Vale's Mark Chisholm looked to be somewhat impeded on his way through to goal by Delamoux, however Referee Ritchie said "Non!"
Vale brought on their sub striker Ritchie Taylor who soon made his mark powering through the middle of the pitch. Indeed the youngster was unlucky in 62 mins when he found himself running through on goal but made the error of trying to stop the ball when striking it could have been a better option.
The visitors did manage to counterattack on a few occasions but solid defending and sound handling by the keeper Thompson kept the Dons at bay. 10 minutes from time and the visitors should have realised it just wasn't going to be their night when a speculative effort looped over theVale keeper and straight back into his arms - off the post !
The final whistle blew to much cheering from the crowd which is something Steve Paterson can take home with him. It was, believe it or not, meant for him , as the Vale fans saw fit to thank him for providing us with a brave victory, good game an a great boost to team morale - not quite so sure he'll feel so gracious in defeat !!?

At least he can use the popular excuse of the week "…it was only a Friendly !" It was just one of those footballing nights-"so near but yet so far" - and I should know, I think I came closer to scoring than Aberdeen - ….only ONE number away from winning the Half Time Raffle !!
Maybe some day, you an me both Stevie !