After a gritty display at Celtic Park, Stephen Glass was understandably frustrated to see his side beaten by something of a freak goal.
“The overriding feeling has to be one of disappointment. To lose a game to a fluke of a goal, from a heavy deflection, that was harsh on the players. I was pleased with what they gave us today. More of the same in the next couple of games and we’ll be fine.
“I felt we defended well and we kept them at bay for most of the game. The winner was just a slice of luck, it wasn’t a case of them picking us open. Joe made a great save from a decent passage of play from them but ultimately, the goal is a fluke, which is hard to take.
“But the defensive work rate from the group was brilliant, and in the first half especially, I thought we also carried a threat going forward. We couldn’t do that so much in the second half unfortunately.
“It’s easy for the players to just put their foot through the ball when we’re defending, whack it 70 yards upfield and just hope we might be able to play from there. But we felt that if we got past their first bit of pressure, then we would have a chance to get at their back players so we asked the players to show a belief in that way of playing. We showed we could do that in the first half. Second half, they kept the ball better and threatened more and we didn’t have the same opportunities to do that.
“We knew that if we stayed in the game, we would get a chance and Fergie nearly pulled us level at the end with his header that was cleared off the line, a similar effort to the one we scored in the game at Pittodrie.”
Injuries were again an issue for the Dons, forcing glass into two second half changes.
“It was unfortunate that we lost Dylan and then Scott to injury because we had to reshuffle things when we didn’t really want to. When two of your central midfielders go off, that limits the changes you might want to make higher up.
“Dylan got a bang on his calf first half and that just tightened up so he had to come off and Scott had a bit of tightness in his hamstring. At the moment, we’re not sure if that’s an injury or just a touch of cramp. But if he can get out on the pitch in the next game, then he will.
“Of course (we had two massive games at home coming up) but if the players show the quality they did at times today, the belief to do the right things, and show a little bit more composure at the top end we can get the results we want.
“I think we will have more opportunities and will probably have to defend a little bit less today on Wednesday night.
“Ross’ booking today means that he will miss the Hibs game but we should have Declan Gallagher back by that point so we will hopefully be in a better position than we might have been had he picked up the suspension a couple of weeks back. Jack MacKenzie will be close to making it for the games coming up, Calvin Ramsay is still a bit away.”
