Mcinnes happy for Dons to be underdogs

Aberdeen manager Derek Mcinnes believes his players should feel confident ahead of their Europa League encounter against a Maribor team who have proved a thorn in Scottish football’s side.

Mariborhaveknockedceltic, Rangers and Hibernian out of Europe in the past six seasons and, although they lost to Celtic’s latest opponents Astana in their only tie last season, they have a strong recent history in European competition.

“They are favourites,” said Mcinnes ahead of tomorrow’s first leg at Pittodrie. “Regardless of who we get at this stage, we are going to be underdogs, and we are underdogs. But we were underdogs against Groningen and Rijeka. We are confident in our own abilities to get the right result.

“Scottish football has taken a wee bit of a kicking with some of the results but we want to represent ourselves first and foremost, get the reputation of our club at the forefront of people’s minds and in doing so help Scottish football.”

Mcinnes hopes to have a look at triallist Khalid Aucho in match action after the Uganda midfielder showed up well in training.

“He has done absolutely fine,” Mcinnes said. “It’s never easy for a boy coming from that side of the world, but he has shown a real eagerness. We will try and get a closeddoor game for him so we can have a proper assessment.”