Winger wary of threat posed by Norwegians
Matty Kennedy was gutted that injury meant missing Northern Ireland’s recent internationals but admits there was a warning for Aberdeen from their thrashing by Norway.
A back problem meant the Dons winger missed Ian Baraclough’s first two games as Michael O’Neill’s successor, which included a 5-1 hammering from Norway at Windsor Park.
Now Derek McInnes takes his side to Stavanger for Thursday’s Europa League qualifier and Kennedy is well aware of the threat they pose.
A glamour tie away to Sporting Lisbon the following week is the prize for the winners but the former St Johnstone star knows the Dons can’t take anything for granted.
He said: “It was disappointing to miss out on the Northern Ireland games. I tweaked my back and thankfully it wasn’t too bad, but the Norway game was a blow for the team and a warning for us.
“It just showed that Norwegian football is a good standard but we already knew that as the manager had shown us clips of Viking playing.
“They have good players at club and international level but I was surprised to see Northern Ireland lose by such a big margin.
“Now I’m just looking forward to getting more experience in Europe with Aberdeen and we know there’s a big game in Lisbon if we get through.
“Sporting are a big club and one of the reasons I came here was to get chances to play matches like that, but we have to be focused on Thursday first.”
It’s a measure of the depth of squad Derek McInnes has at his disposal that Shay Logan, Ash Taylor, Dylan McGeouch, Funso Ojo, Curtis Main and Niall McGinn were all benched yesterday.
Ryan Edmondson, Sam Cosgrove and Mikey Devlin are still out injured.
That’s why Kennedy is convinced an Aberdeen side not firing on all cylinders, despite winning a fifth straight game yesterday, can be a real threat in all competitions.
He added: “There were stages in the game where we played well but we know that we can do better and that there’s more in our locker.
“The important thing is that we are winning games even when not at our absolute best and that’s the mark of a confident side.
“We played very well against Hibs and if we can hit those levels more often then that will be fine.
“We are in a good position in the league with a couple of games in hand over teams and we have a strong side when you look at quality on the bench now.”