We need to grow up at European level, says Lewis
ABERDEEN captain Joe Lewis believes the Dons must ‘grow up’ and prove themselves in big matches as they seek to bounce back from their Europa League heartbreak quickly.
The goalkeeper was frustrated by Thursday night’s 2-0 home loss to Rijeka, which saw Aberdeen go down 4-0 on aggregate to the Croatians.
Derek McInnes now takes his team to Dens Park for a huge Betfred Cup tie against Dundee tomorrow afternoon.
And Lewis — still smarting from a defeat that saw Funso Ojo sent off for a second booking after 20 minutes — said: ‘We need to grow up and show a bit more experience for the players we have on the pitch.
‘Poor decisions at key times cost us and we went out of Europe without making it a fight, really.
‘The night was an anti-climax because we didn’t deliver.
‘We have to show real character on Sunday. We will be favourites to win the game, so it will be about bravery and character to come back from what has been a disappointing week.
‘I know that character is in there, we have the right mentality in the squad.
‘The supporters will turn up in their numbers to give us their backing and we have to deliver a performance so they’ve got something to be happy about.’
Defeat to Rijeka, who scored the opening goal after just ten minutes on a lightning counterattack from an Aberdeen corner, hit the Dons hard.
Not least because they saw the potential to advance not just to the play-off round, but the group stage of UEFA’s second-tier club competition.
‘Rijeka are strong all over the park and have good players, so it was always going to be a difficult tie,’ conceded Lewis (below).
‘But we went into it thinking we could get through and, even going into Thursday, we felt it wasn’t over. You can look back on the first leg and say it was harsh losing 2-0 but, in the end, that was the scoreline.
‘We made some poor decisions over there as well and paid the price for it.
‘They didn’t look like they were going to hurt us but two lapses and we lose two goals — and then it was the same again at home. That’s the difference at this level.
‘At the start of the game we were not as confident with our passing as we should have been and we shot ourselves in the foot straight away with the first goal. ‘It came from one of our setplays, it was naive. We showed a naivety in a lot of our play. ‘We needed to score a goal, we knew that but we maybe committed too early to that and played into their hands. ‘We played into their hands in a lot of ways. The naivety in ball-watching when the ball came into our box after being caught on the counter, was disappointing. ‘Then the second goal was almost identical. I didn’t feel they troubled us much from open play but they were clinical when it came to punishing us from our own set-plays.
‘You can’t afford to do that in Europe. If you’re naive and ball watch, you pay the price.
‘I would love to talk about positives but you can’t when you go out in that fashion because we didn’t give ourselves a chance.’
Meanwhile, Dundee midfielder Paul McGowan is steeling himself for an Aberdeen backlash at Dens tomorrow.
‘They were 2-0 down, so it was always going to be a hard ask for them to progress,’ he said of Thursday night’s defeat.
‘They don’t lose that many games under Derek McInnes.
‘He has always had a good team who are tough to beat, so I don’t think Thursday night will have any bearing on Sunday. He will probably freshen his team up with a few changes — but Aberdeen have quality right throughout their squad. So whoever comes in, we know they will give us a hard game.
‘They will be favourites and rightly so considering where they have finished in the Premiership in the last few years.
‘Even although they have lost three in a row, I don’t think it will have any bearing.
‘Derek McInnes will have them fired up for this game.
‘His cup record has been good in the last few years, getting to finals and semi-finals.
‘But if we go in with the same way we have approached every match so far this season, we will give them a game.
‘We just need to approach the game in the right manner.’