That they did — thanks to two late scores which allowed Wes Henry, the wing, to complete his hat-trick — should not be allowed to disguise the fact that they could have thrown this game away. The north-east visitors dominated most of the forward exchanges without having the ambition to try much behind.
Aberdeen should have made more use of the pressure they had playing down the wind, but with none of their backs showing any real threat, they had to rely on the boot of Keith Oddie to keep them in the game.
Hawks were always the more potent attacking outfit, their ability to slip the ball out of tackles and the numbers arriving in support always posing a threat.
The scale of the Hawks threat was proved on seven minutes when Sandy Warnock, the lock, exploded out of defence when Aberdeen messed up a lineout. Support came from Stuart Low and Colin Shaw, the home wing and full-back, before the ball swung back along the threequarter line. Mark Sitch, the No 8, popped up as the extra man to cross for the try.
With Ricky Munday carving holes in the Aberdeen side, it quickly turned into one of those bizarre games where the side doing all the tackling actually looked more like scoring. So it proved, with Munday cutting through on a long diagonal run before handing the ball off to Henry for the second try.
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With a 12-3 lead at the break and the wind to their advantage in the second half, Hawks could have been expected to run away with the match. However, they made hard work of it. Eventually, they mauled their way to the line with Fergus Thomson, the hooker, being credited with the touchdown, but were soon back under the cosh. With time running out, Aberdeen returned the score, Moray Low, the prop, coming up with the ball.
With three points in it, Glasgow went on the attack, Henry somersaulting over a tackle to secure the result and the bonus point. He then rubbed Aberdeen noses in their embarrassment by collecting a kick ahead to complete his hat-trick.
Glasgow Hawks: C Shaw; S Low, A Maclay, R Munday, W Henry; M Adamson, K Sinclair; E Milligan, F Thomson, G Mories, S Warnock, R Maxton, S Swindall, M Sitch, N McKenzie. Replacements used: P Dalton, S Forrest, J McClay
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Aberdeen GSFP: R Seib; C Phillips, S Arnold, P Hudson, J Dunn; K Oddie, M McLean; D Massey, T Dinnen, S Corsar, C McCaul, A Pulman, J Watt, G Strang, D Teague. Replacements used: R Currie, M Low, M Stanning, T Jericevich
Scorers: Glasgow Hawks: Tries: Warnock, Henry (3), Thomson. Cons: Adamson (2)
Aberdeen GSFP: Try: Low. Con: Oddie. Pens: Oddie (3)
Referee: D Changleng (Gala)
Attendance: 450
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