Graeme Shinnie was delighted with the determination the Dons showed to turn a 2-0 deficit into a well deserved draw at Celtic Park this afternoon.
“Many times we’ve come down here, lost two goals in quick succession in the first half and then went on to lose quite heavily. To show that character in the second half was great. We wanted to have a go at them, we didn’t want to come here and sit in, we wanted to show ourselves and we probably didn’t do it enough in the first half.
“Leighton Clarkson had a chance where he probably should have scored, we should have went in half-time at 2-1, but their goals were disappointing. At half-time, you have to calm it down and we spoke well together and we galvanised and came out a lot better in the second half.
“We wanted to go out on the front foot in the second half. Obviously we were 2-0 down, we wanted to turn that around, we wanted to do it as quickly as we could. I think we needed a couple of changes just to inject that bit of urgency and pace into the team and I thought it worked really well.
“We were happy with the second half, we held on a bit at the end, rode our luck a little bit. But I think we deserved a point in the second half. I thought we put them under real pressure, especially when we got it back to 2-2. I’m delighted my shot took a deflection and ended up going in. It’s typical of my goals!
“I’m buzzing to get a goal in a game like this, to bring us back level, it was so important.
“I thought we got tired a little bit towards the end. I think you almost retreat a little bit, which is not easy, especially against a good team like Celtic. Towards the end, you start thinking a point is a good result here, but when you do that, you give them opportunities.
“But we showed amazing commitment. It’s what we’re driving every day, standards-wise, putting our bodies on the line. Shayden Morris comes on, he’s stopping crosses. Nicky Devlin’s working hard. I thought he marked Maeda very well. Jamie McGrath working hard with his running power and his passing. I thought he was brilliant. I could go through the whole team. The grit and determination was there.
“The truth is, we are still trying to get better. The manager’s still trying to implement loads of stuff that he wants us to do. In the Hearts game, we weren’t overly great. Today in the first half, I didn’t think we were great. So we’ll analyse that and how we can get better. We just keep our heads down and keep working hard.
“That is the way the manager wants it. He is very calm. He doesn’t let the emotion of the game take over his decisions. He tries to stay calm so he can make the right decisions. That’s the style that he’s got, which is important in football. You don’t get caught up in the emotions of football because you can then make some wrong decisions. He’s very level-headed.”
The Dons’ comeback was played out in front of Sir Alex Ferguson who was at Celtic Park this afternoon.
“I didn’t know he was here, but I’m sure he’ll be happy with the way we played in the second half,” said Shinnie. “He is an absolute legend of our club, and that was more like the days when he would have brought a team here and given them a game.
“I said before the game for us to go in with real belief and no fear. We know we’re a good side. We’ve been playing well at times, and we’re obviously on a good run. We didn’t want to come in and just sit in and drop pressure on ourselves. We wanted to try and be on the front foot. The first half was maybe not as good as we wanted, but the second half was definitely a lot better. We deserved our point.”
