JACK MacKenzie has expressed confidence that Aberdeen can enjoy another successful season if they persevere with their manager’s attacking game plan despite the painful defeat they suffered at the hands of Celtic on Sunday.
And he stressed the Pittodrie club will take exactly the same aggressive approach in their difficult Viaplay Cup second round match against Stirling Albion at Forthbank on Friday night.
MacKenzie and his team mates, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Livingston away on the opening day of the cinch Premiership, lost their second league match 3-1 to their Parkhead rivals at home on Sunday.
However, the defender felt they caused the Scottish champions, who needed a late Matt O’Riley strike to sew up the three points, serious problems and would have got a result if they had been sharper up front and at the back.
He is certain that victories will come for the north-east side, who finished in third place in the top flight last term, if they keep faith in Barry Robson’s offensive tactics.
“You are always disappointed after losing a game,” said MacKenzie. “We put a lot into it. We tried to go to toe-to-toe with Celtic, but, in the end, we lost three poor goals and lost the game.
“They are a top team and have been the champions the last couple of seasons. They have top players at the top end and we need to deal with them a bit better.
“When you look at the goals, they were avoidable. We had plenty of chances up the other end and we probably need to be more clinical as well.
“But I absolutely love it (Robson’s game plan). It has been really tough for us and it shows how fit we are. We took Celtic to a place where they didn't want to go in the first-half. Quite a few of their players struggled with the intensity of how we played.
“We played them at Parkhead (in their final Premiership game of last season), got beat 5-0 and never laid a glove on them. To see the progress we are making is pleasing.
“We know if we play like that we will win more games than we lose. We will take confidence from that, but now it is just a bit raw.”
MacKenzie appreciates that Aberdeen will need to cut out the unforced errors they made against Celtic if they want to avoid a repeat of their humiliating Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of sixth tier Darvel in January against lower league Stirling.
Their next opponents thrashed their Premiership rivals St Johnstone 4-0 at McDiarmid Park in the Viaplay Cup group stages this summer and are level on points with Hamilton at the top of League One after winning their opening two games.
But he has complete faith in right back Nicky Devlin, who gifted Celtic their second goal when he headed straight to Kyogo Furuhashi on the edge of his penalty box in the first-half on Sunday, ahead of the meeting with Darren Young’s part-time side.
“Nicky was excellent,” said MacKenzie. “Some players would go into their shell if they gave away a goal like that, but Nicky didn’t. He was excellent after that. There was one off the line and he produced some great defending.
“Nicky knows (he made a mistake) himself and he was excellent after that. That shows a good mentality. He has a lot of experience in this league. He is one of the older ones and has been excellent. The younger boys look up to him.
“We are a really tight group, we support each other. Nicky has been excellent in pre-season. We are all going to make mistakes and it is about getting them going again.”
MacKenzie confessed the Darvel loss – one of the worst, if not the worst, results in Aberdeen’s entire history – is still fresh in the memories of the players who were involved and will ensure that nobody at Pittodrie underestimates Stirling.
“We are no illusions as to what we are going to face,” he said. “The Darvel game in January is still a bit raw for the club. It was a horrendous night.
“We have also seen how well Stirling have done in the League Cup, going to St Johnstone and battering them. We know it will be a tough game and we will need to play like we did against Celtic. We need to bring that fight.
“You can’t rock up to these places and expect to win because you are a Premiership team. They will fight and we need to match that along with our ability to win.”
