Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is taking plenty from the Dons’ 1-0 loss to Celtic.
A David Turnbull strike from 25 yards out sealed victory for Celtic, Aberdeen picking up an unwanted record of six games without a goal, the longest run in the club’s history.
Tough one for McInnes at Celtic Park. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
But McInnes was encouraged by what he saw: “We showed a lot of courage to play, to pass the ball, to get into wide areas. We put umpteen crosses in and it’s disappointing we didn’t make more of that, but in terms of effort and big hearts from the players, they were outstanding in that sense. If they keep giving us that, we’ll be ok.
“We looked a good side against a Celtic team that has been doing very well of late, one with good technical players, guys who only need half a yard to make something happen. You have to have courage to not only stop them but to go and play your own game and I thought we did that, we were brave.
“That’s very encouraging. What we need to do now is keep playing the same good stuff that we saw in every game to the end of the season. Over the 90 minutes, there was one lapse in concentration on the press to allow McGregor to bring the ball out and from there, Turnbull punished us with a fantastic strike from a good young player.
A narrow loss (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“Joe made a save in the last minute of the first half but other than that, for all Celtic’s possession, we still had the best chances. Kamberi hits the post, he should do better when he was through one on one, he scuffed his shot a bit. We had good moments of our own in that first half.
“At half-time, I asked the players to play ten yards further forward to deny Celtic that space to play in and Celtic really didn’t enjoy the second half. I thought we were terrific but the frustration is we are still searching for that goal.
“But we weren’t far away and I was extremely encouraged by the personality of the team, the collective spirit, there were some really good performances.”
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