Scottish Cup: Great goal no consolation to Rory Fallon for losing chance of glory

RORY FALLON ended up on the losing side but while Aberdeen fans will be demanding answers after their side again failed to negotiate a winnable cup semi-final, he was adamant that he, personally, didn’t let them down.

“There’s boys who have to look themselves in the mirror and ask ‘did I give 100 per cent?’ I know I gave 100 per cent and that’s all I can do. I don’t feel like I’ve let anyone down. Of course, you win and lose as a team. But everyone knows, players will go home and evaluate their own game.

“Our team have to do that, it’s the only way you’ll get better. A lot of boys can learn from today. When the pressure’s on, you have to have a bit of steel.”

It was the New Zealander who fired his side back into the tie when he scored a spectacular equaliser with just over half an hour of the match remaining. But in the end it was merely a consolation effort.

“It’s disappointing to score a great goal at Hampden and end up on the losing side,” said the 30-year-old. “It should have been a special day but it didn’t turn out that way. I’ll take my goal as a consolation.

“I’ve hit a few sweet ones in my career, in training and in games, but because of where I was on the pitch it was a special goal. It was a bit different to what I’ve been used to, I’ve hit a few bicycle kicks and volleys from close range but not one from that far out. I was happy with the strike. I couldn’t have hit it any better. ”

It was a match that was there for the taking and after getting the goal Fallon had hope it would give Aberdeen the impetus to push on and win.

“We thought it was our year. We were nicking wins in the cup to get through and I thought ‘we’re looking good’. But you can’t let in two goals like that in a semi-final. If you do, you won’t win the game, it’s that simple. In the first half we didn’t do ourselves justice and felt we could do better. We came out, got the goal and I felt we’d go on and win it. But we got sucker-punched at the end.

“At 1-1 we should have just ground it out until the final whistle. The boys have a lot to learn about stuff like that in big, important games. You have to grind it out and take it to extra-time. At 1-1, I felt we were on top and could have got the win but it wasn’t to be.

“I felt I had a really good game and it’s all I can ask of myself. I’ll treasure the goal like any other, every goal is a blessing to me. It’s a team game but individually I think I did well.”