The Sunday Post (Inverness)

Stewart: Dismal Dons let the whole city down

- By Brian Fowlie sport@sundaypost.com

Aberdeen attacker Greg Stewart says the dismal Dons have to make up for a Scottish Cup flop by doing all they can to claim second place in the Premiershi­p. Stewart was quick to admit that Aberdeen were second-best against Motherwell in yesterday’s semi-final.

He said: “The players have to take a lot of stick. “There is nothing much the manager can do. All the boys let him down.

“We will responsibi­lity.

“I’m sure the manager will get some criticism but we have to take a lot of flak for that.

“We have let the whole city down, we have let everyone down and that wasn’t good enough for Aberdeen Football Club. “We are going for second place and it’s not as if the season is over for us.

“We need to big enough and brave enough to go and make it a good end to the season. “We owe the fans something after that.” The former Dundee player refused to blame the suspension­s of Graeme Shinnie, Kenny Mclean and Shay Logan for the disappoint­ing performanc­e.

He went on: “We have a big enough squad. We were missing some key players who have done

take

the well and you could see that. But it was disappoint­ing.

“We all knew our jobs and we didn’t do what the manager asked. “The goals we gave away...we have been eating balls like that all season.

“The boys at the back just had an off day and we got punished for the mistakes we made.

“I felt we could have kept the ball a lot better. I felt we tried to force it, like the way Motherwell play.

“We tried to do that too much. We could have got it down more and played. “The pitch was magnificen­t and we didn’t really capitalise on that and all the space.” Stewart said the Dons were far from pleased that referee Kevin Clancy didn’t penalise Richard Tait for handball during the move that led to the opening goal.

He said: “The first Motherwell goal is a clear handball. I was right in line with it.

“You hope that with six officials out there, that someone will see it, at least one.

“The first goal is always crucial in big games.

“I’m not going to use it as an excuse but it was a big moment.

“We had actually started well and had a couple of chances before we went behind.”

 ??  ?? Dejected Dons forward Greg Stewart
Dejected Dons forward Greg Stewart

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