The Scottish Mail on Sunday

GOODWIN HAILS HIS DEFENDERS FOR CLAIMING A CLEAN SHEET

- By Graham Swann

JIM GOODWIN last night praised his under-fire defence after Aberdeen edged Dundee United to end the first part of the season in third spot in the Premiershi­p.

Bojan Miovski’s first-half penalty proved the difference against the league’s bottom team but the Dons survived a few scares from wasteful United in the second half.

Goodwin’s men have been scoring for fun at Pittodrie but have struggled away from home.

The Aberdeen boss was delighted his backline finally attracted some plaudits as they ground out a victory in front of over 17,000 fans in their final match before the break for the World Cup.

‘In the second half, we were quite happy to give up territory and allow Dundee United possession of the ball,’ he said.

‘We’ve been criticised for being open in the past and we didn’t want to do that. For all the possession United had they never really caused us any problems.

‘The defenders were comfortabl­e. They have been criticised for not keeping clean sheets.

‘Our attacking players have received many plaudits this season but today it was a different type of performanc­e. We had to dig in and win our battles.’

Aberdeen will head Stateside to their strategic partner Atlanta United tomorrow for a week before they return to league action with a home match against Celtic on December 17 followed by a clash with Rangers at Pittodrie three days later.

The Dons also face the Ibrox men at Hampden in their League Cup semi-final in January and Goodwin hopes his team can continue to improve.

‘We are delighted with our position,’ he added. ‘Third was our short-term objective prior to the break. We wanted to get to the semis, which we have.

‘There are elements of frustratio­n that we could have been four or five points better off but that’s just me being greedy. It’s is a really competitiv­e league.

‘We have done great to pick up the volume of points particular­ly here but we need to improve on the road after the break.’

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