Considine is certain Dons will triumph in ‘marathon’
THE task may have felt daunting against Dnipro at the time — but Andrew Considine believes that winning a two-legged autumn tie was a doddle compared with the arduous nature of Europa League qualifying for Aberdeen nowadays.
The Dons defender is the only survivor from 2007-08 when the Pittodrie club reached the group phase with away-goals success in Ukraine.
As they take a 1-1 score to Maribor for a sixth European fixture without kicking a domestic ball, he thinks they will return from Slovenia with a play-off round slot and overcome what UEFA has made a near mission impossible.
Last year, only two of the 102 teams who set out from the first round — Gabala of Azerbaijan and Norwegians Rosenborg — made the main tournament.
When Considine was part of Jimmy Calderwood’s side that emerged from a section featuring Atletico Madrid and Panathinaikos to book a last-32 place against Bayern Munich, the first leg against the Germans in February was their eighth fixture in the competition.
‘It’s totally different to back then when we had only one tie to get through to the group stage,’ said Considine. ‘Now we have eight and it’s a tough ask but I think we can go all the way. I was lucky enough to experience the groups and it would be fantastic to bring that back to Pittodrie.
‘This is as good a squad as then. We had guys like Kenny McLean to bring off the bench against Maribor. We’ve shown how fit we are and we’ve scored a lot of late goals. The manager said he was delighted with how we responded.’
The 88th-minute equaliser from Jonny Hayes, cancelling out Milivoje Novakovic’s strike, at Pittodrie was the eighth Aberdeen goal of the qualifiers.
Yet Derek McInnes’ side were ferocious from kick-off in their pursuit of goals on Thursday night and only the heroics of goalkeeper Jasmin Handanovic kept Adam Rooney and Jayden Stockley out.
Aberdeen will be more cautious early on in Slovenia. But with the addition of Stockley, Wes Burns and Miles Storey, there is a variety of threats available for the pursuit of goals — no matter how late they are required.