Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Europa League disappointment cannot linger as Aberdeen prepare for St Mirren trip

Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis.
Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis.

The disappointment of their Europa League slip-up lingers but Joe Lewis knows Aberdeen cannot let it trickle into their league form.

A 2-0 defeat to Rijeka in Croatia on Thursday means the Dons face an uphill task to keep their European run going beyond the third qualifying round.

However, they still have league business to contend with.

After the 5-0 thumping of Chikhura Sachkhere last week, there was a noticeable dip in energy levels at times against Hearts before the home side ran out 3-2 winners.

St Mirren have not enjoyed the best start to the season, losing on penalties to East Kilbride in the Betfred Cup and conceding late on against Hibernian a week ago.

Lewis said: “It is important we keep our league run going.  We need to keep that positivity and we can’t beat ourselves up too much over Thursday.  We are disappointed and we need to come back out and show what a good team we are.

“We will have a look at St Mirren.  They will be difficult opposition.  It is difficult to have so many games and so many different types of games early but hopefully we have the squad to cope that can adapt and help us play in different styles to get past each obstacle.

“The next one is St Mirren and we know they have a new manager and a number of new players but we have to go there and try to stamp our authority on the game.”

Thursday night marked the first game defender Scott McKenna played since handing in his transfer request nearly a week ago.

Manager Derek McInnes spoke passionately in defence of the Scotland cap earlier this week, criticising the timing of offers from Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday for the 22-year-old on the eve of the Rijeka game.

However, his performance in Croatia showed little sign of the speculation affecting his game, something which greatly impressed Lewis.

Joe Lewis protests to the referee about the award of a Rijeka penalty.

Lewis said: “You would never have known with the way Scott played.  Scott’s attitude is one of his main positives.  Things don’t affect him and I think you could see that with his performance in Rijeka – he can be proud of the way he played.  I am amazed there hasn’t been a lot more interest in Scott. For me, as a defender he is one of the best I have played with.

“There is no doubt there will be loads of interest in Scott going forward.  He is a great lad and a complete a professional.  I have spoken to Scott about the situation but that conversation will remain in-house.  He doesn’t need me to tell him how to act.  He is a sensible lad and he will do what is best for him to take his career to the next level.”

It is going to take one of the Dons’ best performances in European football of late to ensure they get to the play-off round of the Europa League for the first time.

A three-goal swing is the minimum margin McInnes’ side need to achieve on home turf. Given their home performances so far have yielded 10 goals in their favour and three wins, it is easy to see why they are not counting themselves out just yet.

He added: “We felt the game was going well for us but the penalty changed that and gave them a real lift.  The second goal was a killer. Yes, it is disappointing but it is half-time and we take them back to Pittodrie next Wednesday.  “If we can create a good atmosphere there and we can get the first goal then I think that would give us a real momentum going forward, especially with the crowd behind us.

“I felt we played well and 2-0 was a harsh scoreline on us. We need to make sure when we get them back to Pittodrie we need to make sure we put on a performance that can get us the result we need to get through the tie.”