“Obviously in cup football it’s all about getting through and that’s first and foremost the priority. Fola potentially deserved more from tonight, I think they were excellent. Everywhere we were last week in terms of composed, determined, confident and energetic was lacking from the performance. I need to find out why that was, I take responsibility for that. Over the years we may have went out tonight, but the players dug deep, we effectively played with 10 men as soon as Rooney comes on.

“Willo took a bang in the back as soon as Adam came on the pitch and couldn’t really move at all. It is always a danger putting your 3 subs on early, but we thought we had to do a double substitution and change things about. Whilst I thought we were slightly better at the start of the second half, we never really got a chance to see if we’d be better with Willo. Rooney did well when he came on, but I’d have to say it was a really below par performance.

“We didn’t look as if we were ready and we will need to look at that our preparation both mentally and physically. In play we didn’t look great, but we got through and I need to keep forcing that message home. Just delighted the supporters have a chance to see us in the next round and hopefully when they go away from home they get to see a good performance, one more like our home performance.

“I said before that you normally need to bring two strong performances to go through in Europe, tonight we didn’t. We had a strong home performance at home and we were as poor as we’ve been for a long time tonight, but we are grateful to get through the game.   “It’s still pre-season for us and we put a couple physical days into the players so there has been nothing different going into this game from last Thursday in terms of preparation. It was extremely hot out there with the early kick-off, but we didn’t have our normal energy levels. It was a collective, sometimes mentally that can play with you, but it was collectively a below par performance.

“The players know that and are honest enough to admit that. I feel that we owe the supporters for that performance as we are better than that, but we’ve progressed to the next round and we aim to get better as we go along, but we are certainly better than what we showed tonight.   “Niall is a huge player for us. I have an obligation to look after him for the whole season. You can maybe say we should be good enough to come here without Niall with a 2-0 lead to win the game, but there was times in the game we started to doubt that. Thankfully we will have him back for the next round. It was a gamble, I don’t like doing that, but Niall hasn’t had a break for three years and I have the responsibility of looking after him for the whole season and not just for the present. Like I said, I thought we should be better than what we showed, we all know Niall’s importance is clear, but it doesn’t allow for a below par performance.   “It wasn’t good enough, but we got through a tie. There have been plenty Aberdeen teams who have went out in Europe, but we’ve found a way to get through. We haven’t been at our best over the two legs. We were strong in the second-half of the first leg, but tonight we weren’t near it. We are fortunate to get through based on that performance tonight, but I need to stress that the important thing is we have made it through.

“I look at this as a cup competition and the final for us is getting to the group stages. We looked a million miles away from that tonight. Last week we looked a proper side and have shown that in the last couple seasons. We still feel we have lots of work to do. There is bedding in for players, they need to get used to us and us to them. We aren’t really getting the opportunity to do that through our pre-season work as it is accelerated. We are finding out about each other through the heat of the battle and proper competition which we need to allow for, but at the same time we need to make sure we are better next time out with more energy and confidence about us whilst being better all round.   “We are looking forward to the next round. Didn’t enjoy watching the game tonight, but I’m looking forward to the next round regardless of who we play. We need to ensure we look after ourselves, be ready for that and look what we can do differently.   “I am looking to force that point. But I can’t kid anyone, it was below par, however we are through. In cup football teams that go on to do well don’t always do well in the early rounds. It was a poor performance, but we are through because we were strong in the second-half last week. Where Fola maybe deserved something tonight, over the piece I think we still deserved to go through.”

“I look at this as a cup competition and the final for us is getting to the group stages. We looked a million miles away from that tonight. Last week we looked a proper side and have shown that in the last couple seasons. We still feel we have lots of work to do. There is bedding in for players, they need to get used to us and us to them. We aren’t really getting the opportunity to do that through our pre-season work as it is accelerated. We are finding out about each other through the heat of the battle and proper competition which we need to allow for, but at the same time we need to make sure we are better next time out with more energy and confidence about us whilst being better all round.   “We are looking forward to the next round. Didn’t enjoy watching the game tonight, but I’m looking forward to the next round regardless of who we play. We need to ensure we look after ourselves, be ready for that and look what we can do differently.   “I am looking to force that point. But I can’t kid anyone, it was below par, however we are through. In cup football teams that go on to do well don’t always do well in the early rounds. It was a poor performance, but we are through because we were strong in the second-half last week. Where Fola maybe deserved something tonight, over the piece I think we still deserved to go through.”