McCann pleased by display

Dundee boss Neil McCann promised to not be too hard on his players for losing to Aberdeen, writes Ian Roache.

McCann, with some justification, felt the Dark Blues ran the Dons really close at Dens Park last night.

He said: “We deserved to take something from the game.

“Their keeper Joe Lewis has made two very good saves and there was also a shout for a penalty. It has gone against us a lot this season.

“The boys deserved something for their application and the chances we created.

“The performance was there, although we didn’t get anything from the game.

“It shows respect that Aberdeen decided to camp in and hit on the counter-attack.

“Coming up against a team who have been the second best in the country for the past few years, though, I think the players can be pleased and I haven’t been too hard on them.

“I have told them there is no disappointment here because I was happy with the way they played.”

McCann appeared to exchange heated words with Dons No 2 Tony Docherty after the game, with the suspicion being that he was unhappy with the assistant’s goal celebration.

But he insisted: “I just had missed him. I was maybe a wee bit aggressive in my congratulations for winning three points.”

Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes admitted it wasn’t a brilliant display from his men but was satisfied nonetheless. “It was a tight game,” he conceded. “We had some good moments in the first half but it was a bit too frantic.

“We anticipated the system Neil went with and we played a system to nullify that.

“Getting the goal early in the second half was important. It was a scrappy goal but a good goal – an important one for us.

“In the latter stages, it was stick or twist but I thought, by and large, we saw the game out well enough.”

As for his decision to stay on at Pittodrie instead of taking the Rangers job, McInnes added: “When you get an opportunity to move on, it is important you consider it all.

“It was good just to get back to the game tonight and, hopefully, now we can just concentrate on Aberdeen.”