Dons don’t want to put passports away

Boss Derek McInnes wants Aberdeen to begin their return to Europe next season against Hamilton tomorrow.

The Pittodrie men were knocked out of the Europa League third qualifying round on Thursday night when a 2-0 defeat by Apollon Limassol saw the Cypriot side go through 3-2 on aggregate

It is the fourth successive year the Dons’ interest in Europe ended at the same stage – having previously lost out to Maribor, Kairat Almaty and Real Sociedad.

McInnes wants his side to get off and running against Accies in the Ladbrokes Premiership opener at Pittodrie to help them back to European football again next term.

He told the club’s official website: “We need a freshness and enthusiasm as it’s the start of the league campaign because we want to come back again to Europe and the easiest way to do that is through your league campaign.

“We will freshen it up where we can and there will be a few who didn’t play who will be playing and we will hopefully get off to a winning start.

“There is still plenty to be encouraged by and I feel that this squad will get better as we go along.

“Whether we add to the squad or not I am optimistic we will have a good season.

“We will look at what we think we need, I think there is still a bit of an imbalance in the squad but we are really pleased with what the players have given us so far.

“Physically I thought we would have struggled but I actually thought they (Apollon) were flagging so credit to the players for that.

“In terms of the tactical side of it and the experience side, being smart and cynical, we have still got lots to learn.”

Picture: SNS. Derek McInnes is focused on getting back into Europe.