No more Hampden hangover as Dons get back on track
Aberdeen moved back into second place in the Premiership and kept their six-year, 20-game, unbeaten run against Kilmarnock going.
It was a deserved victory for the Dons and their goals came from two of their main players who missed last week’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Motherwell, Kenny McLean and Shay Logan.
Derek McInnes was delighted with the win and praised his players for bouncing back and showing character and ability after they received plenty of criticism on the back of last weekend.
McInnes said: “I’m delighted for the players as they took a bit of a kicking after last weekend’s defeat to Motherwell.
“I thought we deserved to win but the game was close. Kilmarnock played well and put on striker after striker to try to get a goal back.
“We now focus on finishing second and if we can do that it will be a good achievement because there are quality teams in the top six. It’s in our hands to do it and we feel we can. We now have three games at home and we must make the most of them. However, I feel there will be twists and turns to come. If we find our form we can beat any of the teams.”
There was little doubt the Dons were in the mood to bounce back from their Hamdpen debacle. As early as the second minute Scott McKenna’s powerful header looked netbound but it produced a stunning save from Leo Fasan.
The opening goal came in the 37th minute and it was a powerful shot from McLean. The midfielder decided to shoot with his left foot from 26 yards out and it caught keeper Fasan by surprise to beat him low at his left-hand corner. A fine shot but Fasan should have saved.
In the first half the only save Joe Lewis had to make was when he parried away a vicious effort from Alan Power.
Killie threatened in the final third many times during the 90 minutes but the Dons defence protected their keeper very well.
Steve Clarke started the game with a 3-4-1-2 formation and it took his players a while to adjust. It also took the Dons a wee while to get to grips with it.
Killie put in plenty of effort and they were given tremendous backing from the home support, but their touch in front of goal deserted them.
It was 2-0 in the 59th minute. A free-kick from the right wing was met by the head of Anthony O’Connor and it bulleted towards goal. Fasan flew to his right and parried it away. The ball fell on the six-yard line and Logan reacted quickest to slam the ball into the net.
The race to finish in second place is a fascinating one. Aberdeen, Rangers and Hibs will all play one another and, remarkably, it’s still all in their own hands.
The Dons will be without McLean for their game against the Hibees after he was booked for an incident between Stephen O’Donnell and Ryan Christie.
Christie fell to the deck after he appeared to have been caught by O’Donnell’s flying hand.
Referee Nick Walsh only booked the Killie man and McLean was booked for getting needlessly involved.
McInnes said: “I don’t think Mclean’s role in the incident merited the same yellow card as the Kilmarnock player. Mclean now misses the Hibs game and that’s a sore one for us.”
Clarke said: “We lost three or four key players to injury for this game.
“We also went with a back three for only the second time and we won the previous time and that was against Motherwell.
“The boys put plenty effort in but it just wasn’t our day.”