DEREK McINNES dedicated Aberdeen's excellent Europa League win to the supporters who were attacked in Bosnia the night before the game.

Late goals from Greg Stewart and Gary Mackay-Steven put the Dons through to face Cypriot outfit Apollon Limassol in the third qualifying round next week.

And McInnes was delighted to give the 200 travelling fans something to cheer about after a group of about 50 Aberdeen supporters were ambushed in a Mostar pub by masked thugs, which hospitalised some Aberdeen fans.

He said: "Getting the result for the fans was always the most important thing.

"The incident the night before the game was disappointing and I don’t think it is anything to do with Siroki Brijeg. They were totally innocent on all this but thankfully no-one was seriously hurt and it won’t put too many off from going to Cyprus.

We met a lot of supporters in the town this morning and they told us about the incident. It wasn’t nice to hear but hopefully us winning the game helps make their trip worthwhile."

And the Dons boss was thrilled at his side's efforts.

He said: "I did say last week we looked short on match sharpness in the last stages of the game but I felt having the game would give us the strength and competitive edge going into this one.

"We were always confident we could score and once we did I felt we took control of the game. We got stronger as the game wore on and my players’ fitness and sharpness told in the end.

"In hindsight I should have played an other pre-season game and I would have taken responsibility had we gone out tonight. This should have been game five for us, not four.

"The energy and competitiveness of our team tonight was excellent and the atmosphere got the juices going and we were very strong tonight.

"Both Greg Stewart and Gary Mackay-Steven are capable of quality and they showed that with their goals.

We defended really well. Our objective was to look after the ball and Kenny McLean did that while Graeme Shinnie was everywhere."

And McInnes is looking forward to playing the Cypriots for a place in the play-off round.

He said: "I’ve got games to watch on the laptop on the way home and we’ll get a handle on them. We’ll know the level of team we’re up against but it will be difficult. Again, we’ll be better for having played tonight and we’ll be ready for the challenge.

"Having Kari Arnason available will be important too. He’ll get a game on Sunday at Brechin."