Jonny Hayes has made it clear that there is no danger of him and his Aberdeen team-mates accepting defeat at any point in a game, even when they do go behind.
They are sufficiently well equipped psychologically to laugh in the face of supposed set-backs principally because Derek McInnes, the Dons manager, refuses to recognise that heads must drop should a goal – or goals – be lost.
Hayes, aided and abetted by an ebullient Aberdeen team, arrived on cue to secure his side’s draw with a flashing strike two minutes from the end of the absorbing Europa League tie against Maribor at Pittodrie on Thursday night to underline their never-say-die approach to their work.
Maribor’s opener, from Milivoje Novakovic five minutes earlier, may put the Slovenia side in pole position to go through to the group stages of the competition when the second leg is played at the Ljudski vrt Stadium next Thursday, but Hayes is far from despondent; McInnes would not allow such thinking.
Indeed, the manager’s decision to field a 4-4-2 formation in which Adam Rooney and Jayden Stockley pestered an over-worked Maribor defence, was the kind of positivity the 17,000 Pittodrie faithful demanded.
“It almost paid off,” the Irish winger said. “Obviously, getting the away goal will give them a boost but we can take a lot of confidence from our performance.
“We've seen them play at home and they are a very organised defensive unit and they will probably sit in. If we were in their shoes we might do the same as you don't need to score a goal.
“But the manager and Tony Docherty [his assistant] will do their homework and we will carry out their instructions as we're told to.
“Refusing to give up is something the manager and Doc have always instilled in us.
“In the season before last we scored a lot of late goals - not so much last season - but there were still a high number of them.
“'We've managed quite a lot late in the second half of these European games, three against Fola Esch and three against Ventspils.
“You can see where it comes from. The manager never gives up and when that rubs off on us by scoring late goals it's nice.”
Maribor, who have eliminated Hibs, Rangers and Celtic in European competition in recent years, will still be a formidable hurdle for the Dons.
Hayes accepts that with the away goal they scored at Pittodrie, there will be little need for them to be dominant in their attacking play.
They will, he admitted, be in their comfort zone at home. Aberdeen’s fitness levels as well as the pace in all departments of their line-up could, however, be a telling factor.
“When we play at a high tempo we can be a match for anybody,” he insisted. “We've got a quick, fit team and playing at that kind of tempo for long periods of the game definitely suits us. That's when we are at our best.”
McInnes, the Republic of Ireland international added, has a knack for producing the tactics required for achieving success, hence the faith the players have in him. That is why confidence is high within the Aberdeen changing room that the lucrative step into the group stages of the Europa League can be taken next week.
"Whatever he says, whatever his instructions are, we go and carry them out,” he said.
“We were fully confident going into the Pittodrie game.
“We'll go over there next week needing to score; whether that be in the first minute or the 90th minute.”
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