There cannot have been too many Aberdeen managers who have had the opportunity to travel to Ibrox for a free shot.
But the confluence of the team’s lengthy poor form and a rotten combination of injuries dropped expectations so low it left plenty of scope to exceed them.
Stephen Glass has worn the weight of the world recently, but if he was content to play along with the week’s narrative in public he was almost certainly being more assertive and positive behind closed doors.
He will have known that, though not the line-up he would have preferred to select, he would still be naming a team containing seven full internationals despite its billing as lambs to the slaughter.
He might also have secretly fancied that this was a job better suited to his squad at this stage in its development than some of those it has failed at previously.
The Dons have often sought to play too openly against teams they are not yet good enough to dominate; driven by principle, it is hard to diverge from the stated theory without it being seen as a climbdown or betrayal.
©️ Our captain ❤️
COYR! #StandFree pic.twitter.com/WWY80y87u6
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) October 27, 2021
Here, though, there would be no reputational damage from playing the press and counter game from a far deeper starting point. Arguably the same applied against Hibs: certainly in the second-half campaign to cling onto the lead with a threadbare back line.
It is ironic that, after Dave Cormack’s plea to “the data”, the Dons have collected possibly their best two results of the domestic season in games where they have had very much the thin end of possession.
Conversely this might give Glass a bit of a headache moving forward, if Plan B proves better than Plan A. For now, though, he has earned breathing space as he reverts to the drawing board.
