TOTAL DISGRACE
Glass raging as dodgy surface crocks Andy
UNHAPPY Aberdeen gaffer Stephen Glass branded their Europa Conference League pitch in Baku a “disgrace” and claimed it was the reason why Andrew Considine got crocked.
The Dons crashed 1-0 to Qarabag in Azerbaijan but will be hoping to turn it around at Pittodrie next week to win a place in the group stage.
Glass refused to criticise
the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium before the game although his chairman Dave Cormack did question UEFA’s decision to allow it to be played on it.
The Dons boss was more than happy to air his frustrations afterwards and is now keeping his fingers crossed that it hasn’t caused star defender Considine a major knee injury.
Glass said: “I got asked about the pitch before the game and didn’t want to talk about it because it looks like you are looking for an excuse. I didn’t want that in the players’ heads.
“Anyone who watched the game
could see it was a disgrace and it didn’t suit either team.
“Andy actually got injured because of the pitch and it was absolutely shocking for an event like this.
“I would gamble he will not be fit for the weekend, for sure, but we are hoping it is not a long-term thing.
“It didn’t look great. He hurt his knee and when you do it on a pitch like that you never know what is going on.”
Glass praised his team for digging in in difficult circumstances to give themselves a chance on home soil.
He said: “The worst thing we wanted was to make sure the match was still alive coming back to
Pittodrie on Thursday. We faced a good Qarabag team and we dealt with the conditions and them well.
“I said to the players after the game that an average team would probably have got beaten 3-0 or 4-0. The fight, effort and desire from our players was exceptional.
“We should carry more of a threat at home because we should be able to pass it.”
Glass was unhappy with Slovenian ref Rade Obrenovic and got booked for his protests. He confirmed: “I ended up getting booked.
“Lewis Ferguson got absolutely smashed and had to come off. We weren’t getting the rub of the green.”