MANAGER Jimmy Calderwood hailed match-winner Chris Maguire after the striker fired Aberdeen into the top six of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League with a dream double against Falkirk.
The visitors went into the contest occupying sixth spot in the standings and the Dons knew they had to win to move above their opponents in the final game before the league split.
Maguire's two goals proved to be the difference between the sides.
The striker opened the scoring in the 21st minute when he turned the ball into the net after Zander Diamond flicked on Scott Severin's throw-in, only for Carl Finnigan to equalise early in the second half following some calamitous goalkeeping by Derek Soutar.
The winner came with eight minutes remaining when Maguire rolled the ball into the net from an acute angle after great work by Sone Aluko, leaving Calderwood to pay tribute to the efforts of his goalscorer.
Calderwood thought that with the way Falkirk boss John Hughes would set out his team, this game was tailor-made for Maguire to shine.
"He is a good player and we have been a little bit unfair to him because Darren Mackie, Lee Miller and Steve Lovell have been doing really well up front," the Dons boss said.
"I thought Falkirk would play very deep and they did, which is unlike John (Hughes], but I would have done exactly the same thing if I was him.
"There wasn't going to be space for Darren's pace in behind them so we chose Chris. He is good on the ball with his first touch and he has the awareness. Luckily enough he got two goals for us."
Maguire slotted in his second goal when stationed right next to the bye-line and while Calderwood did not know how the teenager managed to score, he revealed the player was equally clueless.
Calderwood said: "It was a very tight angle and Chris doesn't know himself how he got it in. If he tells you something else then he is lying because he told us he didn't know."
Falkirk boss Hughes insisted he had no complaints with Maguire's winning goal.
Several Bairns players reacted with fury when the goal was awarded by referee Mike McCurry because they believed the ball had gone out of play before Aluko clipped it into Maguire's path.
Hughes has yet to see a replay of the goal, but from speaking to others he believes the officials probably made the right call.
The full article contains 419 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
