24 September 2023

Barry Robson says Aberdeen won’t get carried away with first league win

24 September 2023

Relieved Aberdeen boss Barry Robson believes his side finally got the reward they deserved for their hard work after picking up a first cinch Premiership victory of the season against Ross County – but insisted they will not get carried away with the win.

The Dons got their league campaign up and running in some style with a Bojan Miovski double and goals from Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes and Jamie McGrath giving them a convincing 4-0 victory, although one which perhaps flattered the hosts.

However, it is the result that mattered most to Robson ahead of the sides meeting again, this time on Viaplay Cup duty, in midweek.

The Dons boss, whose side had lost their previous four matches including a 2-1 Europa Conference League defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday, said: “I think we performed to a really high level. We looked really quick and aggressive at times, and scored goals at the right times.

“We’ve performed the way we want to perform and that was the pleasing thing today. We’ve played really well in a few games and with the European thing, I think we’ve learned how to deal with that.

“It’s hard to fight on all fronts, and that’s what we’re doing at the moment. We’ve got to stay in touch in the league, and we’re looking to stay in the Viaplay Cup, and compete in Europe.

“We won’t get carried away – lets just get our heads down and go and perform.”

Aberdeen were forced into an early change when James McGarry went off injured to be replaced by Jonny Hayes, who then also needed lengthy treatment after a late challenge from James Brown, but the hosts took the lead in the 22nd minute through Miovski.

Duk then doubled the advantage just before half-time and the Dons quickly killed off any County hopes of a second-half fightback when they netted twice in the opening seven minutes after the restart through McGrath and Miovski.

County boss Malky Mackay was clearly disappointed with the outcome, pointing to individual errors making his side authors of their own demise.

He said: “I thought we actually started the first 15 minutes reasonably well. It seemed to be the injuries for Aberdeen that changed the momentum a wee bit.

“There’s no real blame attached to the first goal, but the first 20 minutes of the second half we didn’t do ourselves any justice and Aberdeen deserved everything they’ve got.

“It’s about us going back in tomorrow morning – there’s glaring mistakes for most of the goals. It’s a Viaplay Cup quarter-final on Wednesday with the reward of going to Hampden. If there’s any disappointment it’ll be dealt with tonight. Tomorrow we’ll debrief that, and then the focus switches to Wednesday.”

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