Kelle Roos got in Kevin Nisbet’s head and now he wants to psyche out Aberdeen’s rivals in the fight for third place.
The Dutch keeper made a string of fine stops to hold rivals Hibs at bay and to keep the Dons five points clear in the battle to finish in the bronze-medal position. Hibs will be left wondering how they didn’t leave Pittodrie with the win. Roos was a major contributor to that and his big moment came when he managed to play mind games with Scotland striker Nisbet before he saved his second-half penalty.
“It is these ones that count,” he proudly claimed. “I saved one before at St Mirren but it was a different result and different celebration. It was pretty emotional, this one. I don’t want to give away too much if I’m honest. You are trying to make some territorial movements and I like to command my box with other players coming into my box.
“I was really nicey nicey to be fair, we just had a good chat (with Nisbet). I remember one of the other players squared up a little bit and I was ‘relax, we’re just having a chat’.
“I was happy to make the save. It is important that you stand on your line, make sure you are big and be clever. Today we had to work really hard and dig really deep to get a clean sheet, but I think me and the defenders deserve this one.”
Roos also claimed homework behind the scenes all helped Aberdeen to claim their share of the spoils. He explained: “We work really hard every week and with the goalkeeping department we will be buzzing off the first half where I get a little foot in and the ref has given it a goal-kick.
“That is not going to be the headline but that is what we work hard for every day. The penalty save also goes down to the other side, the side you don’t see as much. We analyse and do a lot of homework for us. To make it possible to study the way he might take that penalty. So big credit to Jordi and Marta (Rams, data analysts) for always doing that. Against Hibs it paid off.”
It was a big occasion for Aberdeen with the 40th anniversary celebrations of their European Cup Winners Cup team. They were all there after they had been given the freedom of the city, along with the club.
On the park, the current team however fell a bit flat against Hibs, certainly in an attacking sense. Roos said: “We don’t play in this stadium to get a draw. Let’s make that very clear.
“But at the same time if the game pans out like that you have to dig your heels in and show a lot of courage. I think that’s what we needed to do – and we did.
“I don’t think it was flat because of everything that was going on. If anything we were maybe tentative at times. I would say that is different to being flat. Flat to me is lack of spirit and I don’t think we showed that in this match. We showed a lot of spirit but at times we didn’t get the composure we wanted to dominate the game.”
Danger men Duk and Bojan Miovski hardly got a sniff and that was down to a decent defensive display from Hibs. Lee Johnson’s side controlled long parts of the game and only had themselves to blame for not scoring.
They even hit the woodwork three times. The impressive Elie Youan’s running power was a real threat. He hit the post with a shot. He then saw his header come off the bar and then Harry McKirdy cracked a follow-up shot off the post.
VAR then intervened and Nick Walsh awarded a penalty after it was shown McKirdy’s shot had come off the hand of Hayden Coulson. Hibs’ failure to win means third spot looks out of reach but you would certainly back them to get a European place. Aberdeen have far loftier ambitions and will take a major step towards that if they can eke out a victory against Hearts at Tynecastle this weekend.
Roos stated: “It is simple, at this football club we want to perform and we want to get into Europe. And I think on the pitch we are showing that is what we want.
“We are all pulling in the same direction – us, the fans and if we keep doing that we will be a tough team to beat and if we are a tough team to beat we have a chance to get third spot.
“ Hearts away is an important game. but it is an important game every week, even more so after the split because everyone around us plays each other. It is another big one to get ready for. It is time to rest up then we go again.”
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