Ross McCrorie reckons Aberdeen have netted their early season goals of finishing third and making the last four of the Premier Sports Cup.
The Dons can now relax and put their feet up for this week’s training camp in Atlanta before they get some time off in the World Cup break. McCrorie accepted top four and a European return is what the Reds are looking to use with their current position being a springboard for the second half of the season.
He said: “The end goal, our target, was top three, top four but we take each game as it comes. There are plenty of games still to play and a lot of things can still happen. We have got a semi-final [against Rangers ] to look forward to as well in January. When we come back, we’ve got two games against the Old Firm, so there are a lot of big games coming up. A lot of things can happen in the second half of the season and we’re looking forward to it.”
Aberdeen’s win over Dundee United took them to within eight points of second-placed Rangers. The Light Blues are stuttering and if that continues then it could let some of their chasers in. McCrorie, however, refused to get into whether or not the Dons can catch his former team. He said: “I’m not getting into that. Look, on our day we can give anyone a game but you’ve got to have respect for Rangers and Celtic and what they’ve done over the years. They are two very good teams. Rangers were European finalists last year and Celtic have played Champions League, too. I’m not going to get into challenging them.”
Aberdeen’s early success has been down to their Pittodrie form. They have won all their home games with just one defeat. It is in sharp contrast to their away results and McCrorie accepts that needs to be improved. He said: “There’s no getting away from the fact the away form hasn’t been good enough but that’s what the break is for. We can train as a team and tidy up small details. Hopefully we can come back with a lot better away form.
“The home form has been brilliant this season and the backing of the fans has been tremendous. They were out in their thousands again. A lot of teams will fear coming up here but that’s just down to the hard work we put in on the training pitch and the way the gaffer sets us out as a team. We like to put on a show for the fans and the attacking style of play is great.”
Aberdeen were the better team against United. They have scored a lot of goals, especially in the Granite City. It took a penalty on Saturday night. United will be kicking themselves because they had the ball, lost it and within seconds had conceded a penalty when Bojan Miovski sent Luis Duk away and he was grounded by Mark Birighitti. Miovski stood up and sent Birighitti the wrong way to become joint top scorer in the Premiership.
The defender said: “This season, we’ve had Duk up top with Bojan and they both work off each other really well. Duk likes running in behind, he’s got a bullish style of play about it. And Bojan’s finishing is tremendous. They both play well as a unit up there and we are getting the fruits of it. Hopefully we can come back for this second part of the season and go again.”
The Aberdeen defence has also come in for criticism at times. They have lost a lot of cheap goals but they shut up shop against United and gave their team the platform for the win.It also allowed Aberdeen to get revenge for the 4-0 defeat at Tannadice last season. McCrorie said: “Absolutely. We owed them one. That time at Tannadice wasn’t good enough. Even after midweek, getting the defeat [at Livingston], we bounced back.
“It’s the points that matter. We were excellent in the first half and had plenty of chances. The second half was a bit scrappy. We defended more and Dundee United are a good team, who came at us but we defended very well and the clean sheet was well deserved.”
Aberdeen had chances to make it more convincing with Duk chipping over the bar, while Matty Kennedy also had a shot that flew over. United did push for a leveller later in the game but didn’t do enough and now must use the break to regroup and fight to get off the bottom.
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