DEREK McINNES admitted he feared for the safety of his Aberdeen players after a bruising 2-0 friendly defeat to Lokomotiv Tashkent in Dubai.
The mild mood of the match to round off the Pittodrie club’s time in the United Arab Emirates yesterday was shattered thanks several robust flashpoints from the Uzbekistani champions that threatened to boil over. Several players were booked throughout the contest while Islom Tukhtakhujaev’s leading elbow on Ryan Christie in the first sparked a mass flare up with over a dozen players coming together in the middle of the park at the Jebal Ali Centre of Excellence.
“It was probably a bit concerning in the opening 45 minutes that a few challenges threatened to boil over. It’s not the type of game you want in a friendly. When it’s as competitive as it was you want to get it from the tempo of the game but there was a lot of frustration because the officials weren’t great.
“It was so late on Ryan and he’s got that fiery side to him anyway. When it’s that blatant you’d like to think the referee would take charge and show a bit of authority. We weren’t total saints but I’m just glad to get off without any injuries.
“I said to their manager we needed to settle down and he agreed. I said to our players not to get involved in anything and enough was enough. We weren’t getting any help from the officials.”
Around 150 Aberdeen fans gathered at the complex around half an hour outside of Dubai with the Uzbekistani outfit and their team started brightly with Christie finding the back of the net early on, only to be dubiously flagged for offside.
Aberdeen held the majority of possession but the first goal came for the Tashkent after 27 minutes. A Marat Bikmaev corner was headed home by the inrushing Tukhtakhujaev.
A minute later it was two, Sherzodbeck Karimov slamming the ball low into the bottom right corner with Joe Lewis dragged out of position.
Meanwhile, McInnes has warned Hull City that defender Scott McKenna is not for sale after the English side saw a second bid rejected on Saturday.
The 21-year-old has played 16 times this season for Aberdeen and is contracted up to 2021.
“There’s been two bids from Hull but the second one is just restructured,” explained the Pittodrie manager. “He’s not for sale in January – I’m not looking to move any of my players. McKenna will move at some point but it won’t be January.
“He signed a four-year deal and I firmly believe he’ll go and prove his worth. We’ll sell him at a top fee and the offer was well off what we think he’s worth. We’ve got a plan for him and he’s got a plan for himself – we want to get him in the Scotland setup and for him to play 100-150 games before we think about moving him on.
“He’s got a big part to play and he’s dealt with it fine. If any more offers come in they’ll be wasting their time, certainly this month. For me he’s money in the bank – he’ll get sold at some point but certainly not in January.”
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