MARK Robins is remembered by supporters of Manchester United as the player who preserved Alex Ferguson’s managerial position.
Robins rarely contributed with United’s red on his breast, scoring marginally more goals for Fergie’s team than the Portsmouth defence.
But his precious and perfectly timed cup goal one nervous day in Nottingham was an act of fate-changing significance as Ferguson went on to greatness and even a knighthood.
Gary McDonald may just have done a similar turn for Mark McGhee.
Only a fool, or a radio reporter, would suggest that defeat at Raith could have ended McGhee’s Aberdeen employment. But it would have brought his season to a dishearteningly early and bereft close and dealt a blow to long-term rejuvenation plans.
At least Robins had a valid reason for his paucity of output. He couldn’t always get into the team.
McDonald has no excuse. He leaves no impression on games because he is devoid of strength. One assumes he so frequently finds the space to prod the ball home because the other team has forgotten he is there.
Perhaps McGhee had as well. For McDonald to survive three substitutions was astonishing. That he would thereafter cap a wretched display by ghosting in at the back post to score was almost ghoulishly inevitable.
But while attackers can get away with doing nothing except scoring, more is required of a central midfielder. Aberdeen found themselves needing a last-gasp leveller only because they were hopelessly bullied in the middle of an atrocious park, where McDonald and Mark Kerr continue to alarm.
With neither signed beyond June, it is time to bite the bullet and sacrifice McDonald’s goal threat to obtain someone who actually fulfils the job description.
Rovers may rue the five minutes of stoppage time. But with lengthy treatment to both Laurie Ellis and Iain Williamson – plus the six substitutions – it could have been more.
Raith are precisely the sort of obdurate, unflashy team the Dons toil to break down.
There is therefore, no guarantee that this late redemption will endure like that delivered by Robins.
Chris Crighton is editor of Dons fanzine The Red Final.
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