Attacker David Goodwillie is determined to make the most of his second chance at Aberdeen.
The attacker returned to Scottish football with a point to prove last summer following a three-year non-event in English football with Blackburn Rovers.
Goodwillie had left Dundee United as one of the country’s brightest young talents, but his time in England with Rovers will be remembered for sporadic appearances and spells on loan at Crystal Palace, Blackpool and back in Scotland with United.
Aberdeen offered the 26-year-old a chance of redemption and he looked determined to grab it with a promising first half of the campaign, before his form petered out in the New Year.
Goodwillie bounced back in impressive fashion in the heat of Croatia last week after signing a one-year contract extension in the summer.
He produced a terrific display of leading the line on his own in a 3-0 win, culminating in a great moment to set up Kenny McLean for the third goal which has put the his team firmly in the driving seat as they try to overcome HNK Rijeka in tonight’s Europa League second qualifying round second leg at Pittodrie.
The decision from manager Derek McInnes to start Goodwillie ahead of last season’s leading-scorer Adam Rooney was a significant one and Goodwillie is eager to make the most of his opportunity.
He said: “Adam and I work well together, but the decision to play two in attack is a difficult one for the manager, especially in away European matches.
“The manager has made some smart signings as well which means there is more competition for places. I wouldn’t fancy being him because it must be a real headache just picking the team every week and I have to work even harder to stay in the his plans.
“Last season was a good first six months but a bad second six months for me.
“I was enjoying it at the start as I was in the team a lot, but then I missed out afterwards – that’s football.
“I didn’t play as much in the second half of the campaign and that was obviously frustrating. The manager changed the system a little bit and Adam banged in the goals which was great as the team was winning.
“But of course I want to be playing, but if I can’t then it’s good to be part of a successful squad as well.
“It’s hard to argue with the selection when the team is winning 3-0 every week.”
Goodwillie’s awareness to pick out McLean sealed a famous win for the Dons, but the attacker conceded he would not have passed had the ball not fallen on his weaker foot. He said: “It all happened so quickly that I’m just happy I made the right decision and Kenny put it away.
“I think if it was on my right foot I probably would have taken it on myself, but I didn’t trust my left foot.
“The manager spoke to me during last week and asked if I’d like to play, I enjoy the lone attacker role as it’s the chance to work hard for the team and help us get a result.
“As long as I’m playing I’m happy, but I know I need to be selfless in the role to help us get up the pitch. It’s hard to do that in European football against quality opposition so I was happy to get the chance.
“As a team we were all surprised by the result in Croatia, but we know that can happen if we all play at our best.
“Perhaps the players even surprised themselves how well we played, but with the team spirit here I think we can beat anyone.”
Aberdeen are favourites to progress tonight against the Croats but despite having a three-goal advantage Goodwillie insists it would be foolhardy for anyone to believe his team has one foot in the third round.
He said: “I don’t think it’s over and I don’t think any of my team mates think that way either. Hopefully the supporters don’t think that either and they can get right behind us to see us through, like they did in the previous European games.
“It’s only halfway through the tie and if we can do the next part of the job we can look forward to a run.
“The manager will drill it into us to forget about the win in Croatia as that is in the past. What we need to do is make sure we get the result to progress but if I was in the Rijeka camp I would feel there’s nothing to lose.
“They are a good team. The result from the first leg might not show that, but they are and they will get the respect they deserve.
“I thought they were good all over the pitch and they had chances before we scored but didn’t take them.”
The Dons found themselves in the position of having it all to do in the third qualifying round last year when they faced Real Sociedad at Pittodrie having lost the first leg 2-0 in San Sebastian.
Goodwillie hopes the lessons learned from playing the Spaniards last season, who won 3-2 in a thrilling second leg in the Granite City, will have his team well prepared for tonight’s task.
He said: “We need to take the experience from that game – a tie is never dead and buried as we thought we could get through. We gave them a real scare when we went 2-1 up at Pittodrie, but they had the quality to shut us out in the end.
“Rijeka might get frustrated if they don’t score early on, but they have got the quality to score.
“We just need to have the quality to stop them and hopefully we can to make sure we get through.”