Dons greet 1-0 win with relief not joy

Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin insists there was no celebration after the Dons all but killed off the danger of a relegation play-off.

A 1-0 defeat of Dundee at Pittodrie moved the Reds eight points ahead of St Johnstone who occupy the play-off spot.

The Dons also have a far superior goal difference to the Perth Saints.

With only three Premiership games remaining, any threat of a relegation battle looks to be over.

Goodwin stressed the emotion was relief, not joy, that any danger of a relegation scrap appears to have been eradicated.

He said: “We got the job done but we won’t over-celebrate it.

“It was relief at the end and I think that’s how we all feel.

“The players aren’t jumping about high-fiving in there.

“We are in a really poor place in the league.

“The win does open that gap up between ourselves and the teams below us, which is the most important thing.

“It was about getting the victory and that’s what we have done. However, we still have a lot to improve on.”

Aberdeen have failed to finish in the Premiership top six for the first time since 2013.

Goodwin will undertake a summer rebuild to ensure there is no repeat next term.

Aberdeen went into the Dundee clash with the very real threat of being dragged into a relegation play-off battle.

The pressure was on the Dons to deliver three points having suffered back-to-back home losses to Livingston and

Ross County. Goodwin praised his players for handling the heat of a must-win game against the Premiership’s bottom side.

He said: “There was a lot of pressure and a little bit of anxiety I felt throughout the game from both sets of players.

“That is only natural considering the situation.

“But I’m really pleased we handled it, especially in the second half.

“In the opening 45 minutes there wasn’t a great deal between the teams.

“We started well and then Dundee came back into it and had their own 10-minute spell.

“In the second half we were a lot better.

“We defended better, were quicker with the passing.

“We spoke about trying to get the ball into the wide areas and get Vicente (Besuijen) and Jonny (Hayes) on the ball more.

“I thought that worked for the majority of the time in the second half.

“Albeit Dundee certainly didn’t throw in the towel and had a couple of decent counterattacks of their own.

“Credit to Mark McGhee (Dundee manager) and his players as they kept going until the end.

“Some of our decisionmaking, there were times when we should be clearing our lines and other times when we should be taking a touch.

“Those kind of things can cause problems but I’m glad we got away with it on one or two occasions.

“But the most important thing was winning the game and it didn’t matter how we did it.”