DONS’ DREAMS ARE BAGGED & TAGGED
Group stages step too far as Azerbaijanis turn on style
ABERDEEN got to the playoff round but it was a step too far as Qarabag crushed their Europa Conference League group stage dream.
The Azerbaijani side simply outclassed Stephen Glass’s men.
The Dons had come in looking to overturn last week’s 1-0 defeat in Baku.
They were sadly mistaken as Qarabag simply upped the gears and blew them away thanks to goals from Tural Bayramov, Kady and ex-Hibernian loanee Abdellah Zoubir.
Aberdeen did score a consolation penalty in stoppage time through Lewis Ferguson but that was the only thing for the team in red to cheer all night. They had been rocked by the cruciate injury to Andy Considine in the first match.
Glass has blamed the poor pitch in Baku and the fact it forced his Scotland defender to have surgery that will rule him out until early next year.
There is no doubt his absence was a big blow.
Glass had also warned Qarabag could be even more dangerous on a better pitch at Pittodrie. He was right.
Qarabag looked superior on the ball in just about in every department.
Aberdeen started brightly and Scott Brown had a couple of efforts that were blocked but from there it went downhill.
The home confidence was building but it was shattered with Qarabag’s first attack.
Zoubir got to the byline and pulled it back to Bayramov, and he fired an unstoppable left-foot shot across Joe Lewis and into the far corner on eight minutes.
That goal clearly shook the home side but the fact away goals no longer count was a massive advantage to the Dons.
Aberdeen still looked nervous and they were soon extremely lucky not to find themselves two behind on the night.
Abbas Huseynov squared for Kady and he should have knocked the ball into the empty net but he lost his balance and the chance went begging.
The Red Army were there as the 12th man but they were becoming nervous and with good cause.
Every time Qarabag went forward in the first 45 minutes Aberdeen parted like the Red Sea. The defence didn’t look great but they got very little protection in front of them.
Aberdeen did go two down when Ross McCrorie’s poor ball out was picked up by Jaime Romero. He found Zoubir and he showed great vision to square for Kady, who made no mistake in just the 18th minute.
The Azerbaijani side controlled the rest of the half and created all the chances.
Hesynov found Ramil
Sheydaev and he forced Lewis into a good stop.
Kady’s long ball saw Sheydaev run away from his marker but Lewis got back to save his lob.
Aberdeen couldn’t get near them and there needed to be big changes at the interval.
Teddy Jenks was replaced by Jay Emanuel-Thomas. Dons did up things and played more on the front foot but never really caused Qarabag any real issues in terms of goalmouth chances.
A disjointed second half was broken up by fouls and bookings, which suited the visitors down to the ground.
Aberdeen did give their fans something to shout about on just about the hour.
Calvin Ramsay played it into JET and the ball dropped to
Jonny Hayes, who curled in a shot Shakhrudin Magomedaliyev pushed out, just out of Christian Ramirez’s path.
Ramsay’s corner found the head of McCrorie but he couldn’t get up high enough to keep it down.
Qarabag may not have been spending the fortunes they have in recent seasons but they are experienced and know how to see games out.
Any hope was killed off in the 72nd minute. A long kick-out from Lewis was returned, Kady was the tormentor again and he played in Zoubir, who slotted it past the keeper at his near post.
Dons got a soft late penalty when Richard Almeida challenged Ramsay and Ferguson stepped up to net.