Post Match Reaction from Peterhead

After a solid 2-0 win at Peterhead in the season’s opening game, manager Jim Goodwin reflected on a job well done.

“The first half was frustrating, and Peterhead deserve a lot of credit for that, in particular the young goalkeeper who deserved the man of the match award for his afternoon’s work.

“As a club like Aberdeen, you’re on a hiding to nothing coming here. I’ve been in their shoes as a manager a few years ago where you play against bigger clubs. You set out to frustrate and keep it at 0-0 for as long as possible and hope you get something on the counter, which they nearly did because at 0-0, Kelle had to make a good save.

“I’ve got to credit my players for winning the game. You always wonder as the bigger club if players will turn up taking it for granted and with the wring mindset, but there was none of that. They gave Peterhead the respect they deserved, the professionalism was there and we deservedly won the game. We might have won with more goals, we had one chalked off, we hit the bar, we could have had another penalty, but all in all, it was step in the right direction.”

Christian Ramirez got his season up and running with the two goals that won the game, much to the delight of his manager.

“I was pleased for Christian because, as he’ll admit, he had a disappointing end to last season. We’ve spoken about this League Cup campaign, without being disrespectful to the opposition, as an opportunity for him and the other strikers to get some early goals on the board and get a bit of confidence going. It doesn’t matter who they score against, they enjoy it, so hopefully that will give him the confidence he needs going forward.

“I was pleased for Matty Kennedy to come in as well after an horrendous time with injury last year. Kevin Bain has dedicated a lot of time to Matty, a lot of individual sessions in the summer, he’s had virtually no break at all, and I want to see that bear fruit. Matty can be a big player for us, but he needs to get that sharpness back and he is determined to do that for us.

“I thought Dante and Ross were excellent today. We know all about Ross, I think the world of him, but Dante has done himself no harm today either. He’s got good energy, he was very highly regarded in America, he’s a good player with still a bit to do in development terms, but he adds to that competition for places. He and a bunch of the young lads like Jack Milne, Ryan Duncan and others, they’re making the senior guys think a bit, which is great.”

The rebuilding of the Dons’ squad continues, with Goodwin admitting there is still more to do.

“I’m pleased that Ramadani will join us on Monday, Bojan will be a little bit longer because of all the paperwork. But we’ll continue to look to strengthen. We still need a bit more creativity which is no reflection on the guys we have but I want the opportunity to be able to make three or four changes in games when that’s necessary. Hopefully, we’ll be in that position when that first league game comes around.

“Dante and Ross won’t mind me saying that the creativity side of the game isn’t their biggest asset. We missed Connor Barron on that front today. Ramadani will get on the ball and give us another option in the middle of the pitch, he will be a good replacement for Lewis Ferguson should he move on, so in central midfield, I think we’re looking strong. But we are still looking for more creativity, a bit more pace, someone that can unlock defences. We are working tirelessly behind the scenes, but it’s about bringing in quality, not quantity.”

Lews Ferguson has been the centre of plenty more talk about a potential move this summer as the manager admitted after the game.

“There’s been lots of speculation about Lewis Ferguson. There’s been serious interest from Bologna, they’ve met our valuation, and we’ll see what happens. We don’t want to lose Lewis but he’s been here four years, been a great servant to the club, barely missed a game in that time. If he does choose to move on, we will all wish him every success. He was our top scorer last season, he brings 7 or 8 goals from midfield plus the penalties he scored, and he has been a pleasure to work with.”