what the managers said
From PA Sport
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes was more than satisfied with his team’s performance as they enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win over the in-form Partick Thistle.
The Dons cruised to their first victory since the opening day of the season with Calvin Zola, Peter Pawlett and Josh Magennis finding the net at Firhill.
Zola opened the scoring after 13 minutes with a glancing header and he was also decisive in Pawlett ramming home from the edge of the box after some good work in dispossessing Gabriel Piccolo.
With 20 minutes left, substitute Magennis strolled clear of Piccolo and slammed the ball home from a tight angle to leave the away fans in raptures.
And McInnes was pleased with the manner of Aberdeen’s display against the Jags, who had impressed early in the season.
He said: “It was a very good performance and it had to be to beat a good Partick Thistle side.
“We’ve been very impressed with what Scott Paterson and Alan Archibald are doing down here and we know Thistle have good players in the team.
“They’re playing with a lot of confidence and boys who handle the ball well, and we had to rattle them a little bit and force their better players back and ask more questions.
“Goals help and we managed to get some really good ones.”
The former St Johnstone and Bristol City boss held out special praise for summer signing Zola, who scored the first and had a hand in the second goal.
Zola was without star man Niall McGinn to support him, but McInnes was happy to see the striker get off and running with his first goal of the season.
He said: “I’ve been unfair on him [Zola] this season in terms of my eagerness to have him involved.
“He missed the first nine days of pre-season but I thought he contributed to some fine performances this season.
“We’ve used the international break to top up his fitness and we gave him a tough week of work.
“I think it helped him psychologically, because he showed the sort of player he can be today.”
The home side struggled to continue their excellent form from before the international break, creating limited opportunities in attack.
The Scottish Premiership new-boys struck the post in the final minutes through Kallum Higginbotham, but manager Alan Archibald was scathing of his side’s performance.
Archibald said: “We were poor all over the pitch. I thought Aberdeen thoroughly deserved their three points today.
“We made basic errors and that cost us the game.
Asked where things went wrong for the Jags today, he said: “Basic errors. You can’t make basic errors at this level.
“It was basic errors that cost us the goals. We reacted in some of the other games and it would’ve been better to go in 0-1 at half-time, but it’s just one of those things and it’s sore to lose at home.”
