ABERDEEN CRUISE THROUGH IN LATVIA
DEREK McINNES praised goalkeeper Joe Lewis after his penalty save ended any hope of a Latvian comeback last night as Aberdeen cruised through in the Europa League.
Adam Rooney’s late winner put further shine on the Aberdeen performance as they now plan for the challenge of Maribor in the next round.
The only real drama in this contest came 24 hours earlier with McInnes’ side caught up in a lengthy flight delay after their plane suffered a bird strike. In the match itself, Aberdeen were professional and diligent as they built on a 3-0 first-leg advantage.
They did, however, need a brilliant penalty save from former England squad keeper Lewis just before the interval to prevent English coach Paul Ashworth’s side from reducing the deficit.
‘We were very professional, organised, hard-working and kept Ventspils at arms length,’ said McInnes. ‘We are sharper, our decision-making is getting better and we’ve shown we have learned from Luxembourg.
‘I don’t think there was any doubt we deserved to win the game. We carried more and more of a threat as the match went on.
‘Adam Rooney waited for his chance, that’s what he does; so it was good for him to get his goal.
‘The biggest drama came with the officials, because I’ve watched the penalty back and it’s a real injustice. He had a brilliant view of it but if it had gone in then it may have made things more difficult.
‘But Joe made a good save and that made the second half a bit easier. I have been delighted with Joe — if he can keep going the way he has been, then I’ll be very happy.’
Ventspils never looked remotely likely to erode the advantage Aberdeen had earned at Pittodrie.
Jonny Hayes nearly netted as early as the fourth minute when he stooped to direct Niall McGinn’s corner at goal but home keeper Maksims Uvarenko made the stop to deny the Republic of Ireland international.
Lewis was soon called into action to prevent the Latvians eating into the deficit when Ritvars Rugins drilled a low shot at goal, with Ash Taylor caught off guard at the back.
Lewis again looked sharp soon after when he raced out from his goal to save at the feet of Aleksei Alekseev who had burst through.
At the other end, Taylor nodded over from a promising position from another McGinn corner.
In truth, Aberdeen were fairly comfortable in the barren surroundings of the Ventspils Stadion, although home striker Girts Karlsons did head over a decent chance for the Latvians, to the alarm of the 150 Scots fans who had made their way to the grim former Soviet city.
McGinn flashed a volley wide of target midway through the first half as Aberdeen looked to net the goal that would surely have killed the tie.
And they came within an inch of grabbing it in the 32nd minute when skipper Ryan Jack cracked a vicious 25-yard effort that thundered off the underside of the bar. Although Rooney nodded the rebound into the empty net, he was judged to be in an offside position.
Just when it seemed like the Dons were cruising to the interval with their lead intact, Ventspils were awarded a penalty by Serbian referee Danilo Grujic. Taylor caught Alekseev in the box with a late challenge, although the Russian midfielder made the most of it.
But Lewis dived superbly well to claw away the penalty from Antons Jemelins with his giant outstretched right arm and then followed it up by blocking Alans Sinelnikovs’ rebound.
It was a massive moment in the tie and killed off any hope the home side had of clawing their way back into the contest.
Rooney really should have ended any lingering doubts about the tie when he somehow managed to scoop a header from a Graeme Shinnie cross goal over the bar from no more than a couple of yards.
Then Kenny McLean missed a chance from a similar range from a Rooney flick-on at the back post.
Sinelnikovs tested Lewis again when he drove forward, cut inside and unleashed a 25-yard effort on target, but the ex-Cardiff City keeper comfortably dealt with it.
McGinn forced a fine save from the Ventspils keeper with a curling free-kick from just outside the box and Aberdeen looked the stronger team.
Lewis made another superb stop, though, midway through the second half when he got down well to tip wide a drilled effort from Simonas Paulius, to secure his second clean sheet in a row since joining the Dons.
But Aberdeen could plan for the next round when Hayes wriggled free before squaring to Rooney, whose low shot squirmed into the net, despite some late pressure as they sought a second goal their performance was worthy of.