THE atmosphere on the Kilmarnock bus heading south last night would have had a buoyancy not seen this season while the expressions on the faces of their opponents will have told the story of a flat, lacklustre performance.
Meanwhile, Jordan Jones must have been smiling from ear to ear with the news that his manager, Lee McCulloch, had suggested he was good enough for World Cup duty with Northern Ireland.
Given the astonishing statistic that prior to this encounter the Dons hadn’t lost a league game to Kilmarnock – 13 of them – for more than four years, the visitors were not expected to be on open-top bus duty in Ayrshire today.
At the end of 90-plus punishing minutes, however, they will have enjoyed their celebrations on the way home as Jones struck a thrilling equaliser three minutes after the break – it scuffed off Kari Arnason on his way past Joe Lewis – to earn his side a surprising but valuable point.
It was well deserved as Kilmarnock battled with intensity and vigour shrugging off Stevie May’s 10th-minute opener as he clipped in Graeme Shinnie’s low corner-kick from the right.
McCulloch described his side as “unbelievable to a man”, a contention which could not be disputed as he praised the performance from Jones.
“If he keeps playing like that then this club won’t be able to keep a hold of him,” he said. “We try to encourage him every day and get him out of his comfort zone. He’s been on standby for Northern Ireland and has the potential to go to the World Cup. It’s making him realise how good a player he is.
“We had group and individual meetings on Monday and JJ knows how highly I rate him. It was just getting him to realise how football can change for the better or worse in a week. He needs to realise he can play at the World Cup, it’s about consistency.”
The departure through injury of Iain Wilson after just 20 minutes proved a blessing in disguise for the Rugby Park men with McCulloch changing his formation to a back four, a tactic that allowed his midfielders greater freedom and help deliver a “massive point”.
For Derek McInnes, the Dons manager, there was frustration that his players lacked energy and urgency, despite a dominant first 30 minutes.
“There were moments of sloppiness in the goal we lost,” he said, “but they 100 per cent deserved their point. They were the team with the discip-line in the second half and we didn’t have enough tempo, thought or calmness to get a second goal. We hoped to win rather than set out to win. We had a rally in the last 20 minutes but we got what we deserved.”
McCulloch now leads his team into two home games – against Dundee and Ross County – before the inter-national break and he does so with renewed confidence.
“That makes it a massive point for us,” he said. “And hopefully that will be the turning point of the season for us because the boys have been under a lot of pressure lately and now we can look forward to showing some people we do have good players.”
Overall, the performance by the Pittodrie outfit only showed McInnes that his new-look squad has still to set the heather on fire this season.
Their Betfred League Cup quarter-final tie at Motherwell on Tuesday may see a few changes as he challenges his side to deliver.
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