EVERYTHING you know is wrong. Aberdeen, derided all season long by pundits for their failure to score enough goals, are having a poor season, right? Well, that being the case, how exactly do they sit seven points off the top of the table this morning, with two games in hand?
Their fans having re-claimed the nickname in recent years, the Sheep can’t pull the wool over everyone’s eyes any longer; for now at least they are still a factor in what currently is a Ladbrokes Premiership title race but might just end up an almighty battle with the likes of Kilmarnock, Rangers and Hearts for second place.
Max Lowe, the 21-year-old on-loan from Derby County, has cut an assured figure at left back these last few games, as the club performed creditably in defeat against Celtic in Sunday’s Betfred Cup final then followed it up with only a second win at Ibrox in the last 30 meetings. He feels that Wednesday’s win at Ibrox might just be a “season-changer”. If Derek McInnes’ side can prolong their winning run throughout a congested December calendar – a run of fixtures which sees them take on St Johnstone (away), Livingston (home), St Mirren (away), Dundee (home), Hearts (home), Celtic (home) and Livingston (away) – it just might be.
“It could have been a terrible week, if we lost the final then had lost again on Wednesday,” said Lowe. “But to get the win is massive for us and a massive confidence boost.
“It could be a season-changer; we know now we can deal with anyone in this league,” he added. “We showed that on Sunday, never mind on Wednesday, and I think teams in this league will know what kind of team we are. Rangers and Celtic are great teams and I’m happy we’ve been able to keep them quiet. With the games in hand, we’re really confident. Hopefully we can kick on and make a run of it. We’ve had a tough week of away games so hopefully this can serve us well.”
Considine was correct to point out after Sunday’s match that people no longer regard the Dons as a soft touch. Three days after a cup final defeat, Aberdeen shrugged off the loss of striker Sam Cosgrove to two entirely avoidable yellow cards, playing some of their most effective football with ten men.
“Going down to 10 men wasn’t ideal but we showed real resilience,” said Lowe. “We know we’ve got the right people in the squad to get goals in key moments – and that’s what Scott [McKenna] did. He and Andy led us on.
“We always knew we had a chance,” Lowe added. “To come in at half-time not losing the game, we were confident we could kick on. We were still buzzing with 10 men. If we did the simple things defensively, we knew we’d keep a clean sheet.”
While one of the keys to mounting an effective challenge in the second part of the campaign will surely be getting more consistent striking play, it kind of said it all about this Aberdeen team that Lowe and his defensive colleagues should be left cheering a last-ditch tackle from McKenna as if it was a goal.
“It was like two goals he [McKenna] scored,” said Lowe. “Me, Joe, Shay and Andy celebrated his tackle like it was a goal. That saved us the game. Before I came up here, I heard how good a centre-half he is and what everyone has told me, he’s backed it up with performances.”
The admiration Lowe felt for his team-mate was only magnified by the fact that McKenna had only recently been patched up by the medics after getting on the wrong end of an elbow from Kyle Lafferty. Considering the Northern Irishman was already on a booking at that point for a rash late challenge on Shay Logan, it could have been enough for Rangers to go down to nine men. Not that McKenna seemed too disappointed about the big striker staying on.
“Scott will play with a broken arm – he’ll play with any injury,” said Lowe. “He’s that kind of guy. We were questioning the foul as he was already on a yellow card in the first place. To dish out an elbow and see Scotty’s face – there was red all over the place. We thought he [referee Steven McLean] was going to give another yellow but Scotty wasn’t fazed – he wanted him to stay on so he could give him another couple of kicks! I don’t think Scotty minded either way.”
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