ABERDEEN 0 LOKOMOTIV TASHKENT 2

Derek McInnes was pleased with his team’s performance in a Dubai friendly, that threatened to get out of hand in the first half, despite being on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline. “There were some excellent performances and I thought the goal we had at 0-0 should have stood. The game needed a strong referee and it could have boiled over as there were some heavy rankles flying around. But it was a good expertise and we now focus our full attention on the cup tie at Pittodrie on Saturday.”

Ryan Christie looked lively early on, forcing Nesterov into a good save in the 8th minute when he shot after being put through by new boy Chidi Nwakali. Seconds later Christie had the ball in the net when he converted a Greg Stewart cross but the assistant’s flag was up although the playmaker looked to have timed his run perfectly.

Stewart then saw a goalbound header diverted for a corner by Nesterov following a Gary Mackay-Steven corner before the Uzbekistan champions took the lead after 24 minutes when a Bikmaev cross was headed home by Mukhammadiev.

Four minutes later, Karimov took advantage of a mistimed Shay Logan clearance to double the advantage with a clinical finish.

Christie, who along with Kenny McLean, was bearing the brunt of some heavy tackling, then went on a mazy run brining out another good stop from Nesterov. A heavy challenge on McLean then went unpunished, much to the Dons players’ annoyance, and there followed an unseemly melee in the middle of the park which lasted several minutes before order was restored.

Two minutes into the second half, Nwakali picked up a yellow for a mistimed challenge and he was followed shortly afterwards into the book by Bikmaykin for hauling back Logan.

Both sides made numerous changes which didn’t help the flow of the game but skipper Graeme Shinnie saw a fierce drive saved before, with fifteen minutes remaining, McLean was brought down on the edge of the area, Kenny’s resultant goal bound effort being deflected for a corner.

Late on Scott Wright powered forward leaving defenders in his wake but his final ball failed to find a red shirt and that was that in terms of chances.

Stats

Aberdeen – Lewis, Logan, Shinnie, O’Connor, Reynolds, McLean, Stewart, Rooney, Mackay-Steven, Nwakali, Christie

Aberdeen subs:

46 minutes: ON Arnason; OFF Reynolds

65 minutes: ON Rogers, Ross, Maynard, Wright, McKenna, Ball, Harvie; OFF Lewis, Logan, Nwakali, Mackay-Steven, O’Connor, Rooney, Stewart

80 minutes: ON Campbell; OFF Christie