Albanian’s penalty advice to his Macedonian team-mate paid dividends
Ylber Ramadani had a quiet word in Bojan Miovski’s ear when the Aberdeen striker saw his first spot-kick saved by the legs of David Marshall at Pittodrie on Friday night.
When VAR decided the Hibs keeper had moved and that the penalty should be re-taken, the message from the Dons Albanian midfielder was simple: “You know what you have to do.”
Macedonian Miovski delivered second time around, then hit another in the 4-1 demolition of the Easter Road outfit.
Ramadani also got in on the act with his first strike for the Reds since his summer move from MTK Budapest, where the two were team-mates last season.
They arrived along with several others as part of manager Jim Goodwin’s restructuring of his squad, one he hopes will claim a trophy and feature in Europe next season.
Ramadani’s influence as a defensive midfielder often goes unnoticed, while Miovski continues to grab the headlines with his goal-scoring exploits.
“Am I surprised by how many goals Bojan has scored?” asked the 26-yearold. “Not at all. I knew he would do well.
“Last season at MTK we both scored in the same game, so it was nice to do it again on Friday night.
“Bojan has 11 goals already this season, and that’s a good return.
“If we are to succeed this season, his goals will be important for us.
“I think he can finish the season as the top scorer in the Premiership.
“He is such a quality player and, at
23, he is young and improving game by game.
“He scored a good few goals in the first part of last season as well, so he has done this before.
“Bojan has to keep it up now, and that is the challenge.
“He is playing with a lot of confidence, which is good to see.”
“When he missed the first penalty, I went over to speak to him, and said he knew what he had to do with the second one.
“I just felt Bojan needed someone to say something to him. I told him to just do it and he said he would. So I was glad when he scored.”
A cheeky back-heel goal from Leighton Clarkson represented the bells and whistles on the Aberdeen performance, with Mykola Kukharevych grabbing what was no more than a consolation for the visitors.
“I’m so happy to have scored my first goal for Aberdeen,” Ramadani added, “but I am more pleased that we won the game.
“We needed to bounce back from the Rangers loss last weekend, but I hope there are many more goals from me to come.
“It was a good strike, and when I saw the ball was coming towards me, I said to myself that I had to hit the target. Thankfully it went in.
“It was a relief for me as the fans have been waiting for me to score, and when it went in, I was so happy.
“That’s why I ran over to them to enjoy the moment with them.
“I am playing the best football of my career here so far.
“The manager has confidence in me, and I know he rates me.”
For Hibs midfielder Joe Newell, there was an admission that it was a night to forget individually, as well as collectively.
He put their defeat down as selfinflicted, and he accepted the blame for failing to mark Miovski for Aberdeen’s second goal, a header from the North Macedonia front man.
Newell said: “I have to take responsibility as it was my man. I watched it back and it was soft.
“I have to learn from that, and be better than that. It came at a time that killed us.
“We said at half-time we were the better team, and we had to put the foot on the gas.
“But to concede from a set-piece is very poor.
“The defeat was down to our own errors.”
Next up for Hibs is the visit of Ross County on Tuesday night, when the Dons will be at Livingston.