McInnes ends up cursing Jayden’s lost opportunity
ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes last night reflected on the ‘pivotal’ Jayden Stockley miss that contributed to his team’s second successive defeat in Glasgow.
Sore after last Sunday’s loss to Celtic in the League Cup Final, Aberdeen returned south determined to see off Rangers and cement their second-place position in the Premiership league table.
For much of a bruising match, they went toe-to-toe with their opponents and, when Stockley rose to meet Jonny Hayes’ cross with his head, it looked as if they might emerge with the spoils.
Yet the Bournemouth striker headed the ball wide and within a couple of minutes Kenny Miller had put Rangers on the road to an eventual 2-1 victory.
‘I thought Rangers scored when we were having our best spell,’ said McInnes.
‘We started the second half on the front foot and Jayden’s miss is one that we all clearly remember, a minute or two before Rangers got their first goal.
‘It was a good stand-up from Jonny and Jayden would normally eat that type of service up. But he misses. It happens. Unfortunately for us, it was very pivotal. Rangers then get a break, a deflection off the cross off someone’s chest I think and Kenny Miller is alive like all good strikers. He takes a half a chance and buries it.’
Although the result clearly hurt McInnes, he had few harsh words for his players following a display that was far more competitive than their contribution to last weekend’s final.
Having scored a late winner against Rangers through a hotly-disputed James Maddison free-kick in the teams’ previous meeting at Pittodrie, McInnes contended that there remains very little between the sides battling it out with Hearts for second place.
‘I think Rangers just edged it but I think the result was hard on my players,’ he continued. ‘You could say the same for Rangers at Pittodrie when we got the rub of the green. So, I don’t think there is much between the teams.
‘Games are won in both boxes and I thought penalty box to penalty box we were the better team. We really got after Rangers, pressed them high and were competitive. We were winning tackles, fully committed to what we wanted to do and stopped a good team. That really pleased me.
‘But we said to the players at half-time that we needed to carry more of a threat in the final third. We got into good areas but rushed it a bit.
‘That helped Rangers. The crowd got into it and the team had something to hang on to. We still had opportunities and then we lose a poor goal from our point of view. There was still plenty time. I never thought we were out of the game and I thought we could still get at them.
‘In comparison to last week, I felt the result was really harsh on my players.’
Aberdeen now face Kilmarnock in midweek.
‘We have three home games in a row,’ added McInnes. ‘It has been an eternity since we have been at Pittodrie so we look forward to being there on Tuesday night, and seeing if we can pick up some points.’