No Rush but Del boys will be ready for their European adventure
Ian Rush hosted a golf day at Aberdeen’s Fota Island training base on Friday and how both these teams would have loved to have someone of the Liverpool legend’s ability in their ranks.
This friendly with Connah’s Quay Nomads in Ireland was seen as a Euro warm-up for both sides – but it was far from being a Corker.
Derek McInnes’ Dons will know they must do better when they face Finnish side RoPS in the Europa League qualifiers next month.
At the end of a long, hard week of training here, they couldn’t find a way past Andy Morrison’s Welsh outfit, who showed they won’t be there just to make up the numbers when they go up against Kilmarnock in their own Euro adventure.
Nomads, beaten by Ross County in last season’s Irn-Bru Cup final, were so desperate to play against a Scottish side before they host Killie on July 11, they were up well before dawn to fly out from Liverpool for this game.
Even when they eventually got to their hotel here, they were left milling around reception because they were unable to get into their rooms until 11.30am.
Adversity in life is nothing new to Scottish coach Morrison and you can see that same against-all-odds mentality in his team.
Their physical and no-nonsense approach ruffled more than a few feathers in their run to the Irn-Bru final. Queen’s Park keeper Jordan Hart even accused them of playing a different sport after the Welsh side took route one to seal a 2-1 victory in the quarter-finals.
And Morrison will be hoping that style will help them land a knockout punch on Killie and their new boss Angelo Alessio.
In contrast, Dons only had to make the short journey from their luxury base.
Boss McInnes was able to use the friendly to help integrate new signings such as Craig Bryson, Ryan Hedges, Jon Gallagher and Greg Leigh, into a squad that was looking for a marked improvement at home and in Europe. While the domestic competitions are the bread and butter for Dons, McInnes is desperate for them to rebuild their European reputation.
The Holy Grail remains the group stage of the Europa League.
During his time at Pittodrie, McInnes has enjoyed some big results and some decent runs in Europe but has never managed to guide his side through to the play-off round.
They are looking to put that right this season, starting by seeing off RoPS. McInnes gave first starts to Hedges, Gallagher and Leigh, who has joined on a season-long loan from NAC Breda.
Leigh had big shoes to fill replacing Max Lowe at left-back but it was clear that he has a real physicality and power about him and looked strong in the air.
Former Barnsley winger Hedges found it harder to get into the game from his floating midfield role, while Atlanta United’s little Irish ace Gallagher showed plenty of pace on both flanks.
There was a blow for Dons when Scotland star Scott McKenna took a hefty head knock and had to be replaced by Andrew Considine but the big stopper shouldn’t be out of action for long.
The returning Ash Taylor took over from Mikey Devlin at half-time while Curtis Main came on for his debut in place of Scott Wright.
But the former Motherwell striker had little chance to shine in a game of few opportunities.
We had to wait until the second half for the first effort of note but Sam Cosgrove’s shot was pushed away by Nomads’ keeper Lewis Brass, while Main fired wide with the last kick of the game.
At the other end, Joe Lewis was only really called on to tip over Michael Wilde’s late header.
McInnes, who gave youngsters Ethan and Seb Ross, Bruce Anderson and Miko Virtanen run outs, will look for his team to step things up in friendlies against Peterhead and Inverness before RoPS come to Pittodrie.