Adam Rooney’s goal last Thursday in Latvia was his 60th as an Aberdeen player in only his 104th game.
It was also his 9th goal for the Dons in Europe and moves him up to third spot in the all-time AFC European scorers chart. Only Mark McGhee, John Hewitt and Drew Jarvie have scored more goals for Aberdeen on the continent. After helping the Dons complete a comprehensive 4-0 aggregate win against Ventspils he spoke to RedTV:
“The earlier rounds are always difficult. You play difficult teams who you don’t know a lot about. It is hard to judge how good the side is from them playing in their own league, but you always expect a tough game. In the first game against Fola we showed our intent and could have won six or seven. We then put in a shocker of a performance in Luxembourg where we let ourselves down really and we are determined not to let it happen again. Ventspils don’t lose many at home and they were obviously confident and came at us a bit and without big Joe’s save it could have been a different game. We owe Joe a lot as he made a number of outstanding saves, but I think we grew it in the second half.
“I actually fancied Joe to save the penalty because I think in the highlights we’d seen they put two penalties in that side and I think Joe was doing some homework and made a great save. However his save in the second half is possibly even better, it was a brilliant reaction save at an important time. He’s been great and brings a lot of confidence to the back four because anything coming into the box he comes and takes so the defenders can focus more on just picking up their men rather than marking space as they know if the ball is up in the air Joe will come and get it. He’s been great since he came in, but to be fair we’ve had Neil come in as well who has been excellent in training so we are fortunate at the minute.
“The main thing is to take the confidence from the game, take the two clean sheets from the last two games and build on that in our level of performance going forward.
“I was pleased with my goal. That's nine goals for Aberdeen in Europe, but 10 overall as I scored the winner for Birmingham against tonight’s opponents Maribor. Hopefully that is an omen for when we play. We played the Slovenians in the group stage of the 2011-12 Europa League. It was the winner in a 1-0 win so I have good memories of them too.
“It's always good to get goals, but especially in European competition, and wherever and whoever you play, you want to set records, so I'll keep at that. I don't know what it is, but I seem to like playing against teams from Latvia as I've certainly got a few goals against them. It's a pity that they don't have any teams in the later rounds!
“I'm just happy scoring against anyone, though, especially after the frustration of missing the last few months last season through injury.
“I was on a good run last season. I was averaging close to one a game when I got injured and since I’ve been back I think that’s three goals in four. I’ve been on a good run the last ten to fifteen games so hopefully it continues!
“As I say obviously it was frustrating when I got injured last season. We were going so well in the league at the stage we were I was full of confidence scoring goals and I’d never had too many serious injuries in my career so it was something new for me, but I just have to deal with it and make it up for lost time this season.
“At the time of the injury I thought that I may be out for just 4 or 5 days, but it turned out to be a lot more serious than that. It was frustrating at the time not being able to help the lads at that point in time, but I just need to get on with it and get over these things”
“It is enjoyable being fit again and playing in these sort of games.
“Playing in Europe is a different game than it would be in Scotland. It is a lot more tactical at times and it depends on the opposition. I think that Ventspils are very similar to a British side, they are more direct than a lot of European teams you play against, but everybody is different. Sociedad, Groningen and Rijeka were all different and we have to adjust and cope with that so regardless of who we play we need to make sure we focus on ourselves”.
“The last two years we have been knocked out at the third qualifying stage, which was frustrating. I think we played well in those ties, but we just couldn't get through in the end against a couple of quality teams. We gave Real Sociedad a scare in the second leg before going out and it was a narrow defeat against Kairat a year ago, so we weren't far away. I've played against Maribor, so I know and everyone here knows this is a step up in quality again.
“But we are progressing and will focus on winning at this stage this time, which means we won't be far off getting to the groups. We need to take confidence from what we have done in the European games, raise our level of performance again and take that forward.”
Aberdeen FC | Top Goal Scorers in Europe
Aberdeen FC | Top Goal Scorers in Europe Europa League European Cup European Cup Winners Cup European Super Cup Fairs Cities Cup UEFA Cup Total 1 McGhee, Mark 1 11 1 1 14 2 Hewitt, John 3 5 4 12 3 Jarvie, Drew 3 7 10 4 Rooney, Adam 9 9 5 Strachan, Gordon 5 3 8 5= Harper, Joe 3 5 8 7 Black, Eric 3 3 1 7 8= Simpson, Neil 1 4 1 6 8= Weir, Peter 3 3 6 8= Jess, Eoin 6 6 11 Munro, Francis 5 5 11= McGinn, Niall 5 5 13 Storrie, Jim 4 4 13= o.g. 2 2 4 13= Dodds, Billy 4 4 16 Murray, Steve 2 1 3 17 McLean, Kenny 3 3 18 Smith, Jinky 2 1 3
