It’s mission improbable for Dons
Croatians pounce to take firm grip of tie
It will require a gargantuan effort from Aberdeen at Pittodrie next week if they are to progress to the Europa league play-off round after a deflating defeat in Rijeka last night.
the Croatians gained revenge for a 3-0 home defeat to Aberdeen in 2015, with an Antonio Colak penalty and a late strike from Robert Muric giving the Dons a mountain to climb in the second leg.
Derek Mcinnes set out his team to be hard to break down, but they will have to come out of their shells in the return tie if they are to have any hope of salvaging their European campaign.
with Scott McKenna’s future hanging in the balance right up until yesterday’s 5pm English transfer deadline, it wasn’t entirely clear for Mcinnes whether he would have his main man in defence.
But the £10million-rated centre-half started and put in a good shift. Sam Cosgrove, who had scored eight goals in five games coming into this match, barely saw any of the ball as Rijeka took care of the in-form hitman, but he will surely be more involved next week.
three players who played in 2015 were on the pitch again for the visitors last night, with Andrew Considine, Shay logan and Niall McGinn all starting.
logan’s trip to Croatia, however, wasn’t as positive as it had been the first time around as he gave away the penalty from which Colak scored. Because Aberdeen’s game plan was to sit deep, their attacking players who had been so expressive last week against Chikhura Sachkhere could not influence proceedings as much as they did in that 5-0 victory.
Jon Gallagher ran himself into the ground but lacked poise. Ryan Hedges was playing too deep to have any impact going forward, while lewis Ferguson had to be pragmatic in deciding when to drive up the pitch.
All eyes were on McKenna and he looked alert, beating Colak to the ball in his first involvement in the match. when Zoran Kvrzic tried to sling a cross in after he created space down the right, McKenna again was the one to close it down and turn the ball behind.
However, Rijeka created the first sighting of goal with a well-worked delivery from the resultant corner. Roberto Puncec peeled away from his marker at the back post and found himself with a yard of space on the penalty spot, but he volleyed tibor Halilovic’s delivery over the bar.
Rijeka had started the brighter of the two sides but it took some last-ditch defending to prevent the visitors from taking an early lead. McGinn’s cross from a free-kick was perfect, picking out Cosgrove at the back post, and his knock-down was set to be converted by Ferguson. However, Maxwell Acosty stretched to intercept before clearing.
it was a sticky, humid heat and Aberdeen were content to conserve energy. Mcinnes was made to sweat when Hedges suffered a head injury after a clash with ivan lepinjica but he was able to play on after several minutes of medical attention. Rijeka, however, were soon to go through the gears. Acosty did well when he broke down the right flank before peeling the ball back to Halilovic and the midfielder had time to take the pass in and steady himself. His shot from 20 yards was powerful and dipping, but Joe lewis had things under control and let it float over the bar.
After 30 minutes, though, Rijeka really should have taken the lead. ivan tomecak broke into the inside left channel and Considine raced out to close him down, knocking the ball behind for a corner.
lepinjica was able to get a shot on goal from the set-piece that followed but lewis made a great reactive save and Dario Zuparic could only send the rebound wide.
it was, at that point, fairly diligent stuff from the visitors, and they got through halftime with the score still level. they were doing little on the ball, but defensively they were organised and attentive. the Dons were restricting Rijeka to long shots but Halilovic is a lovely striker of the ball and went close from 20 yards. Acosty released him through the middle, taking three Aberdeen players out of the game with a shrewd pass. McKenna stood up strong against him, forcing him on to his left foot, and his powerful drive was only inches away from finding the top corner. then logan handed Rijeka the chance to take the lead, hauling down luka Capan as he burst into the box. Colak took the penalty, passing it down the middle past lewis. A single-goal deficit would have left the Dons with a decent chance of turning things around at Pittodrie but, with just three minutes left, those hopes took a hammer blow, Muric planting a 20-yard effort past lewis and into the bottom corner.