Creative player needed to lift Dons says Brown

Aberdeen manager Craig Brown believes the arrival of one creative player can turn around their season. But Brown continued to insist yesterday that they did not deserve to be bottom of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Aberdeen slumped to the foot of the table on Saturday after a 2-0 defeat by Kilmarnock and Brown admitted he was “apologetic and embarrassed” over their lowly position but his optimism remains firmly intact.

He said: “We lost two creative players – Chris Maguire and Sone Aluko – and I think it’s fair to say we haven’t adequately replaced the creativity that they could produce for us. It’s our objective to try and bring in someone who can open up a defence a bit more. I think if we replace them with one good player, we’ll be okay.”

Brown, whose team were knocked out of the Scottish Communities League Cup by Irn-Bru Second Division side East Fife, claimed there were mitigating circumstances for their bottom-placed standing. “I still think that it’s a false position,” he said. “I don’t want to make a fool of myself by making rash predictions, but my prediction is we’ll win some games in the forthcoming weeks.

“Everyone’s emphasising the fact that we’re bottom of the league, but no one says we’ve played the top three twice. We’re the only team who have done that. No one says that we’ve a game in hand, and if we draw it, we won’t be bottom of the league. We’ve had horrendous injury troubles and suspensions, but there’s no reason for me to make any excuses. We’re there because we’ve not had enough points.”