NATURAL HIGH
Winning is now a habit for Dons as they rubber-stamp best league finish for 21 years and set their sights on reaching the next level
IF the ability to win ugly is one of the hallmarks of a team with trophywinning aspirations, Aberdeen are already showing the capacity to mount a sustained challenge for top honours.
The building blocks appear to be in place for Derek McInnes to construct a side capable of extending their pursuit of Celtic beyond the current campaign.
Further refinements to the squad will be necessary if they are to graduate to the next level, but there were further encouraging signs of progress at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium at t he conclusion of a fraught week for their hosts.
In truth, the Dons were fortunate on Saturday to complete a clean sweep of Premiership victories over their Highland rivals and, in doing so, achieve their highest league finish in 21 years.
Had the home side made the most of their first-half chances, the outcome would have been somewhat different — to the extent that Inverness Caley Thistle would have won with goals to spare.
But all successful teams need luck as well as the will to win and Aberdeen rode theirs before getting the job done by dint of a David Raven own goal and a clincher from Niall McGinn.
The former Celtic winger’s 69thminute free-kick glanced off the side of defender Raven’s head to cancel out Edward Ofere’s opener for the home side, scored three minutes after the restart.
McGinn produced the winner after 74 minutes — without any assistance from an opposition player — after the Caley Thistle defence had failed to deal with Jonny Hayes’ corner kick. But the scorer insisted he was entitled to lay claim to both of his team’s goals.
‘I’m claiming our first goal as my free- kick was on target,’ said McGinn. ‘But the most important thing was the win.
‘The first half was scrappy from our point of view, but I thought Inverness played really well and it was thanks to our goalkeeper Scott Brown for keeping us in the game.
‘It could have been a different story if it hadn’t been for him. But the most important thing was to improve on last season and even when we don’t play well, we still win games.
‘That’s always a good thing as we know we’ll create chances and then it’s all about taking them at the right time.
‘You also need a good defence and a good keeper and, thankfully, Brownie was on top form. There is also belief in the team and in the second half we were more like ourselves.
‘It’s been a long time since we claimed second spot so it’s a huge achievement and it represents progress. At least Celtic aren’t running away with the league.’
It would appear the Dons have jinxed Inverness in much the same way as Caley Thistle seem to jinx Celtic. But McGinn pointed out: ‘In the games between the sides this season there has only ever been one goal in it.
‘So we have a lot of respect for Inverness, the way they play the right way from the back. They’re a good team.’
The winger is resigned to having one of the shortest close- season breaks of his career due to his international commitments with Northern Ireland and their bid to qualify for Euro 2016.
His season will not end until after the home Euro qualifier against Romania on June 13, but McGinn stressed: ‘I’m fortunate to be i n the position of being an international player.
‘I love what I’m doing and to be part of the international set-up and to have the opportunity to qualify for a major tournament finals is unbelievable.’
For all McGinn extolled the Pittodrie side’s never- say- die attitude, they appeared downright ordinary at times on Saturday and it will require further investment in the squad to eradicate the deficiencies that exist.
However, McInnes will be excited by the thought that pre-contract signing Graeme Shinnie, currently the Inverness captain, will bolster his defence next season.
It is a measure of the 23-year-old full-back’s influence that Inverness would very possibly not be savouring a first-ever Scottish Cup Final appearance and the prospect of a third-place finish in the Premiership were it not for his considerable input.
Just what effect his departure will have on the future prospects of his current employers is difficult to say, but boss John Hughes has cause for concern, one would suspect.
Shinnie can surely look forward to international honours in the not too distant future, although it seems reasonable to suggest he should already have worn a Scotland jersey given the remarkable level of consistency he has displayed this season.
In the first-half, Aberdeen were denied by a combination of good goalkeeping and slipshod finishing.
Had Marley Watkins not missed two first-half chances, Inverness would also have been a winning team once again.
They last took three points in the Premiership more than two months ago and a run of four draws and the same number of defeats threatens to jeopardise their European ambitions.
Watkins reflected: ‘I had to score even though Scott Brown says it was a great save. We missed too many good chances.
‘We should have killed the game off by half-time, but we didn’t and were punished for it.
‘Other than that, it was a good performance against an Aberdeen side who are direct and organised.
‘ They showed why they are second but hopefully we can finish third, which would be a massive achievement for the club.’
Meanwhile, Inverness officials are not expected to lodge a formal complaint with the SFA, despite an administrative blunder that could so easily have deprived them of the services of Josh Meekings on Saturday. A farcical week for the governing body with regards to Meekings became even more so when their website mistakenly listed him as being due to serve a one-match Premiership ban for going past the permitted number of cautions in a season. The suggestion was that Meekings, who had his retrospective Scottish Cup Final ban for hand- ball rescinded on appeal, had triggered the ban by accumulating six yellow ca r ds. But an SFA spokesman confirmed Meekings’ name had been included in error and it was removed from the website.
“Even when
we don’t play
well, we still
win games”