DEREK McINNES, the Aberdeen manager, was philosophical after watching a disappointing if not devastating night for his side.
A 1-1 draw was not what he had expected beforehand, despite his building up of Siroki Brijeg of Bosnia before this Europa League qualifier, but he remained positive about the tie.
The result was fair, the performance by Aberdeen okay at the beginning and then they hit a wall, which Siroki to their credit took advantage of.
“I think its disappointing that we've not managed to get a win tonight,” said McInnes, “I think it's clear that they're a decent side. I thought five or ten minutes after either goal we played some decent stuff and had the potential to get the second goal at that stage.
“Tactically they were very good. We're still a wee bit behind where we want to be at this stage. We knew we were coming back from the summer break to a decent standard.
"There's no criticisms of the players, we know they're going to get better as we go along. We go there positive and confident and hopefully we can bring a better performance.
“It's clear there are still some players short of where we want to be but when we did get after them we caused them problems.
“We're way off what we are capable of but we still had chances and had the better chances. What we didn't have was control. I still think we were eager to play too much through the middle. We just chose to play the wrong pass but that hopefully comes from getting games under their belt.”
Gary Mackay-Steven made his debut less than 24 hours after moving from Celtic.
“Gary is going to be great for us,” said McInnes. “He's the type of player who fans are going to enjoy. It’s clear he had ran his race when he came off but he was a threat for us. He's a ball carrier and gives us an option.
Ryan Christie’s goal was terrific. We showed a counter-attacking threat with Joe Lewis coming to collect a set play and he found Ryan with a terrific pass which Ryan then showed his quality.
"Greg Tansey also showed he is going to be a good player for us and will get better as we go along.”
Louis Moult, the Motherwell striker, could be next to move north, although McInnes insisted no second bid had been made since last week’s one was rejected.
Goran Sabli?, the Siroki manager, was understandably a contented man after a point which puts them in a strong position for the return next Thursday.
“I am happy,” he said. “We are a new team and that really was the only thing I was worried about before the game. We are in a better situation for the second match and we are better at home than away. But it is an equal tie.”
On BBC Radio, Willie Miller, the greatest Aberdeen player of all, said: “I think a draw was right. Neither of the teams could make a case that they should have won. It's a really tough task for Aberdeen to go over there and win.
"I thought it was a really good game of football. What it tells you, if they were seventh in the league, is the standard of the Bosnian league must be high.”
Or it says everything about the Scottish Premiership.
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