‘My Dons are the real deal’

Although they suffered a defeat they could have done without out, they are still not out of the tie completely as Kenny Mclean managed to grab an away goal in the second half heading into their second-leg at home at Pittodrie Stadium next Thursday.

With Considine missing the best Aberdeen chance, when his effort was cleared off the line, late on a draw was looking on until McLean’s (82) looping header, clearly an attempted flick on from Goodwillie’s cross bizarrely ending up in the back of the net on 82-minutes to give the Dons a one-nil win and a winning start to the new season.

McInnes said: “I think it’s important that that stimulus is there from everybody, and I include the supporters in that. We are all here to try to win things and achieve something special”.

“We want to improve on last season and that has got to be our aim over the course of the campaign”.

“Kenny came as a goal-scoring midfielder”.

“We’ve brought in some new players as well over the summer so there’s a lot to look forward to”.

The Dons boss made four changes in a bid to freshen the side following the midweek excursions in Kazakhstan, and he was rewarded with the three points. United set the Aberdeen defence challenges once or twice in the opening exchanges while Graeme Shinnie, buzzing in midfield, tested Zwick with a low drive from a right-wing position before trying his luck with a 20-yard effort that was too close for Zwick’s comfort.

Shortly after, Donaldson became the first player to be booked by Kevin Clancy, the referee, for a lunge on Smith who was preparing to advance into the final third, before Andy Considine picked up a yellow card for an off-the-ball foul on Charlie Telfer.

Blair Spittal and Jonny Hayes, electrifying on the left flanks for both sides, produced several openings with the respective defences displaying the kind of concentration required in such circumstances.

Bilate’s removal for the second half, with McNamara asking Darko Bodul to deliver, underlined his inability to make any sort of dent in the stoic defence of Ash Taylor and Paul Quinn.

Aberdeen were backed by 3,500 travelling fans in a crowd of more than 10,000 and McInnes was delighted to see his players rise to the occasion.

Fresh from giving his side a Europa League lifeline with an away goal in Kazakhstan, the former St Mirren midfielder looped a backward header in off the bar in the 83rd minute at Tannadice.

And then to the match-winner, as McLean did the damage and left Jackie McNamara, the Tannadice manager, downcast at the end.

“Going back 12 months we beat Aberdeen in the first game and they went on to have a good season, I’m not going to start panicking now”.

“Their keeper had a good save from Mario”. We had two young centre halves and I thought they coped very well.