Dons boss lauds late goal hero Ferguson
DEREK McINNES hailed the impact of stoppage-time goal hero Lewis Ferguson as Aberdeen sealed their passage to the Europa League second-round qualifiers.
The Dons were made to sweat in the Arctic Circle after conceding in the second minute against RoPS Rovaniemi before Sam Cosgrove’s penalty and Ferguson’s stoppage-time strike saw them progress to face Georgian outfit Chikhura Sachkhere.
‘We lose a goal in the last 30 seconds in the first game and in the first 90 seconds in this game. It happens,’ said McInnes (below). ‘I thought there was a foul on Scott McKenna (in the build-up), but the boy took the shot on and it ricocheted past Joe Lewis.
‘The good thing for me was we had 90 minutes to come back. We were young in the middle of the park with Ferguson and Dean Campbell, but they were outstanding when we needed that composure and calmness.
‘Our lack of finishing and not putting the game to bed earlier is disappointing but we knew we had to bring a decent level of performance as RoPS pushed us all the way — and we deserved to go through.
‘We played Ferguson against (Lucas) Lingman as he was the one player who we didn’t want to lift his head and enjoy the game. Lingman had his moments but, when I need a job to be done, Ferguson is the one who does it. I was screaming at him towards the end but he got the goal like he did against Burnley.
‘We needed calm heads and composure and we didn’t panic after losing the goal.’
Aberdeen suffered a horror start in Finland. Two minutes gone and the Dons were behind. It was weak, timid defending from the visitors, as McKenna was outmuscled by Aleksandr Kokko, who cushioned Kalle Katz’s long punt from a free-kick into the path of Tarik Kada.
The winger struck first time, beating Lewis with a lovely left-footed effort which benefitted from a slight deflection off Ash Taylor.
Although Taylor had been somewhat at fault for the opener, he registered his side’s first shot of the match after nine minutes.
However, Niall McGinn’s inswinging corner was drifting away from goal and the defender struggled to get real power on his header which drifted wide of the target.
Slowly, Aberdeen began finding their
feet on the atrocious surface and started to knock the ball around in the final third, looking for gaps in the hosts’ backline.
When the ball was swept out wide to Shay Logan, he assessed his options in the box before delivering a perfect cross. Ferguson was creeping in at the back post but he could only direct his header inches wide.
Aberdeen were racking up corners but without getting a glimpse of the target. They had a legitimate shout for a penalty turned down when McGinn’s cross struck Atte Sihvonen’s arm, but the Turkish whistler Umit Ozturk rejected the appeals.
But on their next attack, the referee could not deny them a stone-waller. Ferguson burst into the box after displaying some nifty footwork and he was clattered by former Killie defender Mo Sissoko. Cosgrove stepped up and, despite the best efforts of Antonio Reguero, placed the ball into the bottom-left corner.
There was less panic to Aberdeen’s play in the second period and Cosgrove should have killed the tie when they created a clear opening.
McGinn worked the ball down the left to Jon Gallagher who teed up the forward, but he miscued his header narrowly wide.
Substitute Niklas Jokelainen blazed over as Rovaniemi tried to cause an upset and Lewis had to be alert when Youness Rahimi created space in the box, but Ferguson got the crucial second in added time, converting past Reguero at the second time of asking.
RoPS ROVANIEMI (4-2-3-1): Reguero 6; Hyvarinen 6, Katz 6, Sissoko 6, Taiwo 6; Sihvonen 6, Muinonen 6 (Jantti 81); Kada 6, Lingman 7, Agnaldo 6 (Rahimi 68); Kokko 7 (Jokelainen 66). Subs not used: Siskovski, Olander, Llamas Pardo, Tamminen. Booked: Kokko. ABERDEEN (4-2-3-1): Lewis 6; Logan 6, Taylor 6, McKenna 6, Considine 6; Ferguson 8, Campbell 6; McGinn 6 (Wright 87), Hedges 6, Gallagher 6; Cosgrove 6 (Main 66). Subs not used: Cerny, Wilson, May, McLennan, Virtanen. Booked: Campbell, Logan. Man of the match: Lewis Ferguson. Referee: Umit Ozturk (Turkey).