About a year ago - give or take a month - these two sides met for the first time in the League.
Back in October 2008, both Aberdeen and Falkirk had gotten off to a poor start, winning two games each and unable to string enough results together to get themselves out of the bottom half of the table. Indeed, going into this game on the 18th of Octber, the calls for Jimmy Calderwood's head after a run of four defeats had already started, with Aberdeen rooted firmly at the bottom of the table. Falkirk where immediately above them on goal difference. Like the Dons, Falkirk's season did not start particularly well either, with four defeats in a row until wins over Hearts and Hamilton got their first points on the board.
It's interesting then to see that these two sides should meet again under almost similar circumstances. Both are finding their new season as much of a struggle now as they did back then. Aberdeen have recorded only 1 win so far this season (against Hamilton) while Falkirk have yet to put a single point on the board.
Both sides are under new management, and both managers are under pressure to begin delivering results. With only 4 points from 3 games so far, Mark McGhee knows that the sort of form his side is showing needs to be turned around quickly to win back critical and increasingly vocal sections of the Aberdeen support.
The Aberdeen gaffer, who 25 years ago today scored twice against Icelandic outfit Akranes as Aberdeen opened their defence of the Cup Winners Cup, also knows that the fans expect more from the team, especially as this is pretty much the same side that finished fourth last season under Jimmy Calderwood.
Despite the fact that Falkirk are already being touted as potentially relegation candidates along with another struggling side, Hamilton Accies (who lost 3-0 to Aberdeen two weeks ago), for Eddie May and Falkirk, the signs of improvement are beginning to show themselves.
Defeat against Rangers is pretty much a given these days, and Hibs are always a tricky side, but in all those games, and especially in the 2-1 defeat at Dundee United in the last SPL game played before the World Cup qualifiers, the Bairns enjoyed some good spells; it's obvious that there's a lot of potential at Falkirk.
Aberdeen will want to put the disappointment of their last league game against Motherwell behind them - a game in which they had no shots on goal - and get their season back on track with a convincing win. Falkirk will be wanting to move away from the bottom spot in front of their home crowd and get their season off to a start.
Falkirk (from): Olejnik, Barr, Scobbie, Twaddle, McLean, Lima, McNamara, O'Brien, Arfield, Flynn, Finnbogason, Finnigan, MacDonald, Mitchell, Marceta,Lynch, Allison, Wagenaar.
Aberdeen (from): Langfield, Foster, Ifil, Considine, Mulgrew, Kerr, Crawford, McDonald, Pawlett, Duff, Fyvie, Aluko, Miller, Mackie, Maguire, Nelson, Young,Paton, Megginson, Hansson, Grassi.
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