McGhee defends his young Dons after fans boo the team

Published on Tuesday 15 December 2009 08:37

MARK McGHEE has urged Aberdeen fans to treat his young players with patience and understanding after they were booed off the park following their 2-1 defeat by Hamilton.

The Dons boss admitted his side were outfought and outworked by Accies as they missed the chance to move into the top six of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. But he feels the lack of creativity is inevitable on certain occasions from a side which featured Scotland Under-21 striker Chris Maguire, plus teenager Peter Pawlett and 20-year-old Michael Paton on the flanks.

"The fans can boo but I'm not just going to accept it without some sort of argument," McGhee told RedTV. "I can understand it but I will also keep saying that the fans have to be patient.

"They have to understand that, particularly the creative part of our team is based on young players and the young players are going to be inconsistent and have bad days and I expect the fans to realise that.

"Chris Maguire, Pawlett and Michael Paton are the guys who we rely on to open something up for us or create a goal, and they didn't.

"Sone (Aluko) came on and didn't look right and didn't create anything.

"That was the part of the game that misfired on Saturday, although we conspired to lose it in other areas.

"But that was the part of the game I was disappointed with and I expect the fans to appreciate that these young players will get better."

Pawlett went off with a hip injury but McGhee expects him to be fit for Saturday's visit of Hibernian, however Mark Kerr (calf) and Maurice Ross (hamstring) are rated as "50-50".