Ahead of tomorrow night’s return leg in Latvia Kenny McLean spoke to the media.

“It is going to be a tough game like the first round was when we were away from home. We know what to expect, we have seen them now we know what they are going to give us and I think we can go over there and get a good result as well.”   Do the players feel they have a point to prove in this away game after the performance in Luxembourg?

“Yes, we know we let the travelling fans down in Luxembourg and we need to put things right. We’ve got a lead and a good performance to build on from the first leg and I believe we can do that.”   Do you feel better prepared now in terms of match sharpness for this tie after 3 games?

“We’ve been back a while now and I think the longer we are together the better we are getting and obviously the fitter we are getting. We need match fitness we know that and we are getting that every week so it is great and we are now feeling pretty good.”   Were you, the players and manager able to put your finger on what happened in Luxembourg so you can avoid a repeat tomorrow night?

“I can assure you there will not be a repeat. We’ve spoke about it at length and as I’ve said it was very early in the season, we’d only played a couple games, although it cannot be excused. We know we’ve got a job to do over here and we need to put it right to the travelling fans. It is going to be a tough game, but we are in a good position and hopefully we can stay there.”   The club have made it to at least the third round of qualifying in each season under Derek McInnes, it is important to keep that going and give yourself a chance of making the group stages.

“Yes, we want to better ourselves every year that is our aim. We want to keep improving year on year and I think we are doing that, we’ve built a really good squad and it is important to go far in Europe for this club and it is history. We need to go back to pushing for the group stages and we are in a good position just now, we won’t take anything for granted, and hopefully we can progress to the next round and take it from there.”   Would you say the opening part of this game is especially important because Ventspils will come at you presumably?

“We know what to expect. Like the first round in Luxembourg they came at us early and we will need to weather a bit of a storm in times we know that as playing away in Europe you will always be against a difficult opponent. We know what they are going to bring, but we have a lot of quality in this squad and we are confident we can go here and score which would give them a mountain to climb, but we know we have a real job to do and I am sure we can do it.”   It is important to focus on Ventspils rather than who you might face in the next round.

“Definitely, we cannot get ahead of ourselves, which is one thing you cannot do in this competition. There is a lot of quality in this competition and right now our main focus is on Ventspils. I’m sure we will, but if we get a good result tomorrow we will look at the next round and who we’ve got and analyse that more when the time comes.”   With so many good attacking players in the squad there must be a lot of confidence amongst the boys as you could really get a few goals?

“The competition for places really brings the best out in the players. I’m sure that will be the case this season as we’ve signed some really good attacking players. The competition for places is great and maybe recently we have relied on Adam for goals too heavily, but hopefully the competition will now bring out more in him and hopefully the new lads can hit the ground running.”   In the middle of the park, Barry has retired, Willo has moved on and Cammy is now on loan, do you feel there is more responsibility on your shoulders given how the dynamics have changed in the squad?

“There have been a few midfielders moved on, but everybody has a big responsibility and a big part to play this season and I think I’m in that bracket. Responsibility is put on everyone not just me because midfielders have moved on, whether any midfielders will be coming in I do not know, but there are still a lot here and a lot of good young players coming through which will push us to try and keep working hard and stay in the team.”   What did you learn about your opponents from the first leg what are you going there knowing which you didn’t ahead of the first leg?

“If you watched the first leg you’d see they try and get around Karlsons who is probably their main player. We need to try and stop that threat of him and they will try and get balls into the box and we need to try and stop that source. Going over to Latvia we know their threats, but we also know how well we can do and how strong we are so we will focus on ourselves.”

“If you watched the first leg you’d see they try and get around Karlsons who is probably their main player. We need to try and stop that threat of him and they will try and get balls into the box and we need to try and stop that source. Going over to Latvia we know their threats, but we also know how well we can do and how strong we are so we will focus on ourselves.”