Derek McInnes wants Aberdeen to carry fighting spirit into second leg

Aberdeen survived a torrid night and could and should have been down and out if it wasn’t for some crucial saves from on-loan keeper Danny Ward.

Kenny McLean’s strike in the second half ensured that it is still all to play for in next week’s reverse tie, but McInnes wants to see his side get off to a better start at Pittodrie. “But that’s him got two very important goals”.

That all important away goal, having been two-nil down at half time, was scored to see the Dons return from Kazakhstan still in this third round qualifier at two-one down after the first leg. “It can prove pivotal”. Every time we have managed to score an away goal, we have always progressed.

The second leg is in Aberdeen next week and McInnes added: “If we play in the manner that we did in the second half for 90 minutes then I feel we have an excellent opportunity to get through”. They are eager to get on with it.

McInnes said: “The players put so much into the (Real Sociedad) game and the downside was I don’t think we had a lot more in the tank come the United game”. We didn’t impose ourselves enough on the game.

“We will need to score at least one goal in Scotland”.

As for the aforementioned journey, the Dons ended up chartering themselves a private jet to make the gargantuan 3,415-mile trip out to Almaty (the plane reportedly cost the Scottish club £200,000 to hire – twice the amount they would have received in UEFA prize money had they actually won the game). I thought he did absolutely fine.

“Time and time again he was getting into goalscoring positions”.

Things get even more freakish when you consider that China is 178 miles away from Almaty, making it closer to the stadium this game was played in than Aberdeen is to Middlesbrough.

“Next Thursday is going to be a big night for us”. I think at home we can do the same.

“Last week [in the previous round against Croats Rijeka] we got 17,000 and it was a massive factor”.