Following the League Cup semi-final, Jim Goodwin was proud of his Aberdeen side who gave everything they had to the game, even in defeat.
“We are very disappointed that we’re out of the cup, but in terms of what the players gave us, there is a real sense of pride too. The effort, the commitment, the discipline, really sticking to the game plan, they gave us everything.
“We’ve come a long way as a group in a short period, a lot of the guys have never been involved in games of this magnitude before, and we will learn from it and we will hope to be back here in the Scottish Cup and be on the right side of the result.
“The players can be proud of their efforts. All you can ask is they give everything, do their best and then you have no regrets. They did that, every single member of the squad that went on the pitch. If a few bits of luck had gone our way, with the deflection on their first goal for example, it could easily have been different. Liam makes a really good block on the shot but the spin on the ball takes it into the bottom corner. Another day, it goes wide.
“I thought we frustrated them a lot with the shape of our team, we worked really hard on blocking the passing lanes into the likes of Tillman and Kent, trying to nullify the space in the middle of the pitch. We were willing to give up the wide areas and thought there were good crosses coming into the box, I thought the centre-halves and the goalkeeper coped with that.”
A crucial moment in the game was the red card for Anthony Stewart just before the end of normal time, but the Aberdeen boss had no complaints over the decision.
“When Anthony made the challenge, my initial reaction was that he was in trouble. We have no arguments. It was a poor decision from Anthony unfortunately. He should have stayed on his feet and jockeyed the player instead of doing what he did.
“Going down to ten men against Rangers was a very difficult situation, but they stuck at it, they gave it everything, and stayed in the game right to the last kick. We hit the post, McGregor made a good save from Liam Scales and Hayden Coulson, so it is hard to take, but there is a sense of pride too. The reaction of our supporters at the end of the game shows they appreciated the efforts of the players.
“We can’t dwell on it because we have a hugely important game in midweek against Hearts at Tynecastle, who are on a good run of form. We’ve got boys with knocks and cramp and all kinds of issues, so we’ll assess the squad tomorrow for that game and then go and compete at the same level.”
The Hampden surface proved problematic for both sides and Goodwin was disappointed that, unlike the teams, the pitch did not live up to the occasion.
“I don’t like to talk about it having lost, because it seems like you’re searching for excuses. I’m not doing that. There wasn’t a great deal between the two teams, Rangers shaded it perhaps, but for the players on both sides, the pitch was a major disappointment.
“There hasn’t been a great deal of football here and we were looking forward to coming and playing on a good pitch. I know there was torrential rain yesterday, but a national stadium pitch should not end up in the condition it did.
“We’re trying to market and showcase our game to the rest of the world and putting out a surface like that doesn’t help when you come to a couple of showpiece games like you have this weekend. Both teams like to keep possession, but you’re having to tell players not to take risks because of the state of the surface. That impacts on the nature of the game and that’s very disappointing.”
“We’re trying to market and showcase our game to the rest of the world and putting out a surface like that doesn’t help when you come to a couple of showpiece games like you have this weekend. Both teams like to keep possession, but you’re having to tell players not to take risks because of the state of the surface. That impacts on the nature of the game and that’s very disappointing.”
