THE DONS SUFFER A SAM DUNK

SOMETIMES it is the obvious decisions that get you through a game. Losing with 25 minutes to go, Burnley manager Sean Dyche threw on a second centre forward. And it worked, Sam Vokes reacting quickest to his own flick on in the area to volley an equaliser into the Aberdeen goal from 12 yards. At the end of a difficult night in Scotland, Burnley’s Europa League campaign was up and running. For much of the night, it had been very different. A shoulder injury to goalkeeper Nick Pope early on was followed by the concession of a penalty by James Tarkowski and when the excellent winger Gary Mackay-Steven scored from the spot Aberdeen had a lead they deserved and hung on to much longer than Burnley would have liked. The Premier League club were poor on the whole here at an excitable Pittodrie. As much as Derek McInnes’ team were vibrant and energetic, Burnley were short of ideas. But crucially Burnley did not lose and that is a good habit to have on nights when you cannot locate your best football. Replacing Republic of Ireland international Jeff Hendrick with striker Vokes paid off when he reacted sharply to a falling ball in the box and volleyed in the equaliser with his right foot. ABERDEEN: Lewis 7; Logan 7, Devlin 7, McKenna 7, Hoban 7; Ball 7.5, Shinnie 6.5, McGinn 7 (Wright 79); MackaySteven 8.5, Ferguson 7 (Gleeson 56min, 6.5), Cosgrove 6.5 (May 77). Scorer: Mackay-Steven 19 (pen). Manager: Derek McInnes 7.5. BURNLEY: Pope 6 (Lindegaard 13, 7); Lowton 5.5, Tarkowski 5.5, Mee 6, Ward 6; Gudmundsson 6, Cork 6, Westwood 6, Lennon 7.5; Hendrick 7 (Vokes 66, 7); Wood. Booked: Tarkowski, Lowton. Scorer: Vokes 80. Manager: Sean Dyche 6. Referee: Daniel Siebert (Ger) 6.5. Attendance: 20,313.