Super-subs Jayden Stockley and Wes Burns both came off the bench to fire Aberdeen to a 3-0 victory against Ventspils at Pittodrie.
Summer signing Stockley opened the scoring only six minutes after introduction during the second half of the Europa League second qualifying round, first leg tie.
Adam Rooney then fired in a second goal for Aberdeen and debutant Burns got on the scoresheet late on to give the Reds a healthy lead to take to Latvia for next Thursday's return contest.
The first opportunity of the game fell to the Dons when Kenny McLean flicked a header wide from six yards out following a cross by Jonny Hayes.
Ventspils' best chance of the entire match arrived in the 25th minute after they won a corner, which was played by Aleksei Alekseev to Alans Sinelnikovs. The left midfielder's delivery carried past the far post to Nikita Kolesovs, but the defender could only turn his effort wide.
Aberdeen ramped up the pressure after the half-hour mark and finished the opening period on the front foot.
A cut-back from Hayes found the onrushing Rooney, but from 10 yards out, the striker sent his effort wide.
The Dons then created a great opportunity in the 39th minute when Graeme Shinnie saw a powerful shot saved by Maksims Uvarenko. The ball looked as if it would fall to McLean, only for defender Antons Jemelins to clear the danger.
Early in the second period, Niall McGinn was gifted a good shooting opportunity with a free-kick 20 yards from goal. Uvarenko was up to the task of making the save though, as he dived low to his left-hand side to get a hand to the ball.
Stockley was summoned from the bench in the 66th minute to replace McLean and the substitute quickly made a huge impact by breaking the deadlock.
Only six minutes after his introduction the powerful striker got on the end of a cross from the left wing by Hayes to nod the ball past Uvarenko.
It did not take long for the Dons to double their advantage, as Ventspils failed to clear the ball from their penalty area following a cross by Ryan Jack and Rooney dispatched a low shot into the net from 12 yards out.
Burns completed his loan move from Bristol City to Aberdeen on the day of the game and the 21-year-old enjoyed a dream debut after coming on as a substitute late on, as he sent a header past Uvarenko in the first minute of additional time at the end of the game.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel