Joe’s in the shed after his shutout
Don Cowie told house guest Joe Lewis he could look forward to a night sleeping in his shed after the Aberdeen keeper frustrated Hearts with a string of top-class saves.
The original plan was to break bread over the dinner table with his big mate a few hours after going head to head at Murrayfield.
But that was before Lewis broke Hearts with a string of top-drawer saves, leaving Cowie to joke he could forget about the luxury of putting any of his overnight clothes in the top drawer at home.
The 34-year-old said: “He’s staying at mine so he might be in the shed after that.
“We were at Cardiff together so we know each other well.
“It’s no surprise he has put in performances like that a few times since he has come up over a year ago. Unfortunately he has produced another one against us.
“For the first half an hour Aberdeen were very good and we struggled to impose ourselves. But once we got a grip of it, for the last hour of the game I thought we were the team that was going to win.
“Bar some outstanding saves we probably would have.
“But it was positive – the fans saw the team working really hard and creating chances. On another day we would have got three points.
“The first half an hour was difficult but once we managed to get a foothold we did really well.
“There are a lot of tired bodies in there but that’s what you have to do when you play for this club.
“If you put that effort in, the fans will appreciate it – and we did that. It’s really positive moving forward for the rest of the season.”
Cowie reckons the secret to their success yesterday lay in the simplicity of Craig Levein’s message ahead of his first game back in charge.
He said: “The differences Craig has made are small details but very important ones. We all knew our roles within the team.
“It’s going to take time – because of the international week we’ve only had a couple days that we’ve all been able to work together.
“But moving forward it’s a great base for us to build on and I’m looking forward to what we can achieve. That was a very talented team we faced and we acquitted ourselves very well.”