Stephen Glass was delighted to start his Pittodrie reign with a win over Livingston and secure a place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.
“I’m really pleased we were able to come back twice against a good Livingston side that are tough to play against.
“We asked the players not to panic when we were a goal down at half-time, we asked them to trust in us and what we had asked them to do, trust the structure and the movements we’d worked on and I think you saw a group of players that believed in it and had the urgency to implement it. We showed real belief, we were driving the game, I felt we were in control for the bulk of the second half and then extra-time.
“We could have been more dangerous and clinical, but I don’t know if any team gets too many opportunities against Livingston on a normal day because they’re hard to play against. It’s not pretty, it doesn’t flow, but they’re well drilled, good at what they do, have a good manager and make life hard.”
Substitutions played a big part in the game in many ways, starting with the early loss of Joe Lewis.
“It’s a big blow to lose a goalkeeper like Joe, but Woodsy was excellent coming in to take over. Gordon Marshall told me what a good number two we have here and that goes a long way. He showed his worth today. The other thing it did cost us was a substitute and the boys were dead on their feet later on and I couldn’t use any more fresh legs, but we were still the ones driving the game and that’s credit to them.
“In the second half, Flo came on and was excellent, playing off the side a little bit, it wasn’t a like for like switch with Fraser, we changed it a wee bit to try and get the best from him and make him a threat. He came off at half-time last week and it’s easy to start sulking, but he’s shown a determination to be part of the group and he made a big contribution today.
“Niall did well to stay on as long as he did because he’s not played that much football, but when you put him in those positions and try to find a way of getting the ball into him, then he can make a real difference. We didn’t do it in the first half, we made that point at half-time. But he produced an unbelievable finish, a lovely final ball for Flo to finish, he played a big part.
“It’s been an emotional week for everyone and it takes its toll. The game got brought forward, which changed our planning a little bit, so it hasn’t been an easy start. There’s a lot of work to be done but when you have a group of players with that determination, it’s a great place to come and start work.
“I knew this was a resilient group, I’ve watched the games. They are tough, they’ve got a good team spirit and that says a lot for the previous management and it says a lot for the players and staff that we have come in and joined.
“It’ll be a different sort of game on Wednesday and we need to show we can handle different challenges. We’re going into it on a high and that’s great because it’s an important game for us and we need to try to close that gap to Hibs. Then we’ll start to look at next weekend and Dundee United.”
