Chris Clark injury blow for Aberdeen

Defender Clark missed most of last season with ankle ligament damage and went down last night with no one near him.

And manager Derek McInnes admitted it could be a bad one. He said: “I don’t want to speculate, but it doesn’t look great to be honest.

“We will see how it is and it’s too early to speculate, but he’s clearly done something.

“It was serious enough for him to go down early. It’s not ideal because we don’t want to be picking up injuries. We’ve been trying Chris at full back because it’s an opportunity for him and because we’re a bit short at full back and this doesn’t help matters.”

McInnes fielded a young side with Nicky Weaver making his Dons debut, but the keeper’s first act was to pick a deflected shot from Shane Dunn into the net after just three minutes.

It took the Pittodrie side until ten minutes until the break to get back on level terms and it took a fine drive from Jamie Masson from the edge of the box to draw them level.

Scott Vernon soon headed in Peter Pawlett’s cross to give Aberdeen a half time lead in the Irish coastal town. Vernon then netted his second of the evening from the penalty spot after he was fouled in the box and Nicky Low rounded off the scoring.