Resilience of Dons delights Calderwood

Published on Friday 8 May 2009 10:10

ABERDEEN manager Jimmy Calderwood has praised his side's strength in adversity after they survived a red card to pick up vital points for the third time in six weeks with a 1-1 draw with Dundee United.

Midfielder Mark Kerr was dismissed with 14 minutes remaining at Tannadice last night after appearing to direct a volley of abuse at referee Chris Boyle to leave the Dons holding on for the final whistle a man down.

In the end, an 11th goal of the season from striker Lee Miller was enough to give the Dons a crucial point in their bid to move into fourth place and qualify for next season's Europa League.

Despite David Goodwillie's equaliser, Calderwood was happy with the eventual outcome, which came on the back of draws against both Hibernian and Motherwell in recent weeks when Kerr and Andrew Considine were dismissed.

He said: "I thought it was a wonderful performance in the second half. I really enjoyed the way we played, and it says a lot about them. That's the third time now in the last six or seven weeks where we've had a man sent off. Unluckily enough twice it's been Kerr. At Motherwell and at Hibs and here – three very difficult venues, and all credit to them they've dug out a result. Who knows it might be a very important point at the end of the journey."

The draw, coupled with Hearts' 1-0 defeat in the Edinburgh derby, leaves Aberdeen still in the hunt for a European place. They are four points behind United in fourth but are now only five adrift of third-placed Hearts, whom they face at home on Tuesday.

Calderwood added: "At this moment we're still in it. We've got to win at Pittodrie on Tuesday night and then we're only two points behind Hearts. Then, we'll see what United do and hopefully we can put ourselves right in amongst it at our own patch.

"Of course it's another cup final for us. But I thought the United game was brilliant. It was a great atmosphere. The supporters were fabulous, as were the United supporters, and I thought it was a wonderful game. There were mistakes made but, in terms of the pace of the game and having two teams going all out to try and win it, it was wonderful."

United manager Craig Levein viewed the draw as an opportunity missed. "With Hearts losing I see it as two points dropped," Levein said. "It's a home match and at half-time I felt very confident."