Stewart says players must take blame
THE post-mortem can’t last too long. There is simply not enough time for this Aberdeen team to moan and despair at their woeful semi-final loss. Finishing as runners-up in the Premiership is — must be — the target.
Mind you, it might take a while for the Dons fans who motored down to Mount Florida to forget about this one. Not to mention the many who stayed at home and were left to drown their sorrows last night.
Dissecting a performance that slumped well below the standards expected of manager Derek McInnes and the Red Army, striker Greg Stewart did not shy away from the facts. This was not acceptable.
The Dons had no response to a Motherwell side on cruise control thanks to a brace from Curtis Main and Ryan Bowman’s strike.
‘We are very disappointed,’
said Stewart. ‘The players have to take a lot of stick for that.
‘There is nothing much the manager can do. All the boys out there let him down. We will take the responsibility — one million per cent. Definitely.
‘I’m sure the manager will get some criticism but we have to take a lot of flak for that.
‘We have let the city down, we have let everyone down and that wasn’t good enough.’
Currently sitting in third spot in the Premiership behind Rangers on goal difference, the heat is on to finish behind champions-elect Celtic.
The Dons may well seal the runners-up spot, but the fact remains McInnes has still only lifted one trophy — the League Cup in 2014 — since he arrived at Pittodrie in 2013.
Stewart knows Aberdeen must show some bottle to finish as best of the rest and put this cup disappointment behind them.
‘It’s a different competition (the league) and we just need to dust ourselves down and pick it up,’ said the 28-year-old. ‘We are going for second place and the season isn’t over for us.
‘We owe the fans something after that. It just wasn’t acceptable for the club and we need to take full responsibility.’
Seconds before Main fired his team into a 20th-minute lead, the Dons appealed after Motherwell captain Richard Tait handled the ball and then set up the striker.
Unwilling to offer excuses, Stewart believes it could have been a different game if one of the half-dozen officials had spotted the foul.
‘The first Motherwell goal is a clear hand ball,’ added Stewart.
‘You hope that with six officials out there, someone will see it — at least one.
‘The first goal is always crucial in big games. I’m not going to use it as an excuse but it was a big moment.
‘But we have to be big enough to take that on the chin and react to it. We didn’t do enough.’