By sCOTT dAVIE

Last updated 12:38, Monday, 17 March 2008

Aberdeen 3 Gretna 0: IF the administrators in charge of Gretna’s fate off the park show as much determination and resilience as the players did on the pitch at Pittodrie on Saturday then the stricken club might just have a future after all.

Not surprisingly, Mick Wadsworth looked like he had the care of the world on his shoulders but he and the young squad the caretaker manager cobbled together returned south with their pride intact.

In fact in the first half they more than matched an Aberdeen team that had gone within 30 seconds of a famous Scottish Cup victory against Celtic the previous weekend before being taken to a replay.

That effort was certainly sufficient to earn a rapturous reception from the small knot of supporters who made the long trip to the Granite City for what many feared might be Gretna’s last stand.

They appreciated the spirit shown by a collection of largely unknown kids who you felt were actually introducing themselves to one another when they formed a huddle just before kick-off.

The Black and Whites longest servant Gavin Skelton did come off the bench for the second half after admitting he couldn’t look himself in the mirror if he had refused to play.

It was a similar story for Nicky Deverdics who insists that it never crossed his mind to join the ranks of the senior professionals who refused to turn out because of wage and career concerns.

Deverdics defends the rights of those team mates to withdraw their labour in these horrendous circumstances but despite indications to the contrary he was never going down that route.

He said: “It came up on Sky Sports News on Friday that I wasn’t going to play, that I refused to play - but that was never the case. I actually told them at the ground on Friday I was going to play, so I don’t know how that came about as I was always going to play for my owninterest.

“Some lads who might have things up their sleeves didn’t want to getinjured and that’s fair enough. I have had one club interested, but forpersonal reasons I thought I had to play.

“With the club being in breach of contract the administrator has said of there’s interest from other clubs he will let us go.

“They feel it is only right to let us go - and that’s why a couple of thelads didn’t play.

“Unless the club is shut, we will be training on Monday and we have been told there will be part of our wage going in on Monday.”

Deverdics played the linking role between the midfield and solitary striker Henry Makinwa in what was a thankless task in terms of influencing the final outcome of the match.

However in many ways the result was not important, it was the fact that the club were there to fulfill the fixture that mattered and the player was rightly proud of the performance.

He added: “We knew everything, not everyone, was against us and we needed to pull together on the pitch so we didn’t get embarrassed.

“I won’t lie, it has been hard, no-one knowing if the club was going to shut a couple of days ago.

“The lads’ heads have been all over the shop, but somehow we have kept the spirit together.

“We stuck together, even though it’s a very hard situation to be in, worrying about your career and what you could be doing next week if the club shuts.”

Gretna’s resistance crumbled five minutes before the interval when

Aberdeen’s teenage striker Chris Maguire opened the scoring then the visitors were hit with a double blow in the second half.

First Birmingham City’s young on loan goalkeeper Artur Krysiak hauled down

Lee Miller who went on to convert the resulting penalty in 71 minutes then Barry Nicholson hit Aberdeen’s third sixty seconds later.

Referee Dougie McDonald took pity on Krysiak at the first incident but not even brandishing a yellow card and Gretna quickly regained composure after the second to prevent a real rout.

Their caretaker manager was rightly proud of the passion his players showed in such adversity but the news he received at the final whistle regarding the need to switch the Celtic match to a new venue was another setback.

Wadsworth said:”I have just heard about that and I am sure that the SPL can sort out something because the revenue is vital for us but at the moment that still seems a long way off given our difficulties.

“It was a great shock when the income stream from Brooks Mileson stopped when it did.

“ I just wish he could have engineered a more graceful withdrawal for us.

“I haven’t spoken to him for weeks though I suppose it is understandable that his family are protecting him.”

MATCH FACTS
ABERDEEN (4-4-2): Souter; Maybury, Diamond, Considine, Foster; Nicholson, Severin, Touzani (Aluko 46), de Visscher; Maguire (Lovell 462), Miller. Subs not used: Langfield, Mackie, Mair, Walker
GRETNA (4-4-1-1): Krysiak; Griffiths, Hall, Meynell, Naughton; McGill, Wilkinson (Taylor 78), Osman (Skelton 46), Baldacchino; Deverdics; Makinwa (Hogg 65). Subs not used : Grant, Murray, Fisher, Shultz-Eklund
REFEREE: Dougie McDonald
ATTENDANCE: 9,025
MAN OF THE MATCH: Every single Gretna player deserves the joint accolade for the spirited way they performed given the horrendous circumstances of the club.