DONS FIRE A BLANK
But McInnes jumps to defence of his players
DEFIANT Derek McInnes insisted his players deserve credit rather than criticism despite blowing a second opportunity to top the Premiership in the space of five days.
With Celtic idle following the postponement of their game at a waterlogged Dens Park, the stage was set for Aberdeen to knock them off the summit for the start of 2016.
But just as they squandered the chance to leapfrog the champions after drawing 2-2 with Inverness Caley Thistle on Boxing Day, so they let Ronny Deila’s men off the hook again in a goalless draw with Partick Thistle.
There was further bad news for McInnes amid fears skipper Ryan Jack will miss six
weeks after coming off with a hamstring injury but, insisting it was still all to play for in the new year, the Dons boss said: ‘I think the players deserve credit rather than criticism as we are all trying to get the right result. ‘It’s a disappointed dressing room in there. The supporters are disappointed and we are all disappointed about what happened. ‘But we have a lot going for us here: we are joint top of the league and we are going into the second part of the season with a lot to look forward to.’ Celtic and Aberdeen are now level on points but the Parkhead club are ahead on goal difference and, crucially, have two games in hand on their nearest rivals. A win last night would have moved the Dons two points clear but instead they have squandered four points out of a possible six in consecutive home games. McInnes said: ‘We are not top of the table on our own like we wanted to be. ‘We have had two opportunities to do it but we haven’t lost either of our home games. ‘We have stayed unbeaten and we have kept another clean sheet as well as having some decent passages of play in both games. ‘I think we started positively and created enough chances to win the game but it just wasn’t to be. ‘The surface didn’t help the ball players in terms of confidence in going forward but you also have to credit Partick for the way they played.’ Jags boss Alan Archibald, whose team are now six games undefeated, said: ‘I was delighted with the point and the performance as this is a tough place to come but we limited them to a few chances. ‘I don’t think our goalkeeper had a wonderful save to make tonight so I am delighted with that and another clean sheet. ‘We even had chances to win it at the end. I was disappointed not to do better going forward in the first half but we had a wee bit of a go in the second half. ‘The players trust each other after the run we have been on and it doesn’t get any easier as we go to Parkhead on Saturday now. ‘We can go there with confidence in terms of keeping the run going but it will need a similar performance to limit Celtic’s chances.’