GOODWIN IS FRUSTRATED WITH TEAM’S SLOW START

JIM GOODWIN lamented the nightmare start that handed Aberdeen an uphill task against champions Celtic. The Dons boss pitched six new signings in for a baptism of fire on the opening day at Parkhead. Spooked by a carnival atmosphere as Celtic unfurled the league flag before kick-off, the visitors lost the opening goal from a corner after two minutes and 36 seconds. ‘The first goal is the bit that disappoints me,’ said Dons boss Goodwin. ‘We’ve got to be more aggressive, (Stephen) Welsh just drifts into an area and gets up above us, and there’s no real aggression from us to make sure we are the ones winning that header as opposed to him. ‘We knew how difficult it was going to be, when we are playing the champions. ‘We wanted to try and cause some anxiety within the stand and hope it crept on to the pitch. ‘We couldn’t have started the game any worse, really. We gave away a silly corner initially, and then quite simply didn’t defend it well enough. ‘Coming to venues like this is difficult as it is at 0-0, but giving a team of Celtic’s quality a 1-0 head start is not what you need to do. ‘I have to credit the players. They didn’t let the heads go down. ‘I thought we finished the first half the better, in the last ten minutes or so.’ Veteran winger Jonny Hayes wasted a fine chance to level just before half-time, sidefooting wide of the post from 12 yards with all the time in the world to pick his spot. ‘We had a half-decent chance with Jonny on the edge of the box. If that goes in, of course it’s game on again,’ said Goodwin. ‘At 1-0 at half-time, the message was we were still in the game and would fancy ourselves to get a chance. ‘When it goes 2-0, it’s a long way back. It was a very difficult afternoon, there was no getting away from that. ‘You don’t get many chances here and, when you do, you’ve got to capitalise. ‘Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that. For the second goal we’ve got to hold our hands up and say that’s a bit of quality from Jota. ‘We have to put it behind us now. There’s no point dwelling on it, it’s the first game of the season. ‘It’s the most difficult fixture you could probably get. We have to be positive now looking forward to the St Mirren game.’