Reynolds and Mcinnes focus on the positives
Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds will take what positives he can from Saturday’s 3-0 Ladbrokes Premiership defeat by Celtic to focus on finishing 2017 on a high.
The deadlock in the top-ofthe-table clash at Parkhead was broken by right-back Mikael Lustig’s deflected shot five minutes before the break.
Brendan Rodgers’ side took control of the game in the second half and, when Reynolds’ attempted headed clearance from a Scott Sinclair cross hit team-mate Kari Arnason and landed at the feet of Jonny Hayes, the former Aberdeen winger knocked in his first goal for Celtic since joining the Glasgow club in the summer.
French midfielder Olivier Ntcham then pounced on a short pass-back by Aberdeen playmaker Kenny Mclean to make it 3-0 and leave the Dons trailing the league leaders by eight points.
However, Reynolds, looking to the home games against Partick Thistle and Hearts which come before the winter break, said: “We can take a lot of positives from large parts of the game.
“There were some good performances and some good passages of play but we were hugely disappointed by the result.
“When the second goal went in you start feeling it and the third just compounded it. At Christmas, you don’t really get a chance to dwell on it.
“There are games coming thick and fast and we will concentrate on getting six points from the next two games and setting us up nicely for the break.”
Celtic’s win was by the same scoreline as their victory at Pittodrie in October but Dons boss Derek Mcinnes, pictured, insists comparisons between the two games could not be drawn.
He said: “We acquitted ourselves better than at Pittodrie. Celtic were very good that night but it was very close this time. We are not without blame and it’s not just down to luck. But I do think there was a touch of fortune about at least a couple of goals.
“Now we need to finish 2017 well. If we do that in the next two games, I think we can happy with our work.”
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Partick tomorrow and Thistle go into the game on a high following the weekend win over over Hamilton which lifted them off the foot of the table.
They also picked up a first clean sheet since October, much to the delight of manager Alan Archibald. “It was really important,” he said of the clean sheet.
“We changed things up a bit [against Accies], it’s the first time we’ve been able to change the midfield about and move Adam Barton back, with [Jordan] Turnbull suspended.
“We’ve not been able to do that all season because we didn’t have enough midfielders, so it was good to have that and I thought Adam did well there and I thought Martin Woods was again very good and gave us a balance and protection in the middle area.”