Proud Craig Brown hails ‘excellent’ display from resurgent team

True, they failed to convert a barrel-load of chances into a single goal against Hearts yesterday, but against less able defences – and that means the bulk of the SPL – similar displays are sure to produce three points rather than one.

Jamie Langfield hardly had a save to make, and it was only in stoppage time that he failed to keep the ball out, when a shot by Andrew Driver rebounded from a post. But if the home team were fortunate in that instance, they were arguably far more unlucky not to have been two or three goals to the good by that late stage.

Manager Craig Brown has always been a master of looking on the bright side, but this time, his optimism looks genuine. Certainly, after the 0-0 draw, his upbeat assessment of his squad was no more than they deserved. “I was very proud of the team today,” he said. “In every respect apart from the obvious, they were excellent.

“Hearts built on their excellent performance in midweek, and it took us a wee while to get bedded in. But I felt for the last hour of the game we were the dominant team. Had we lost a goal at the end it would have been a real travesty.”

On the game in general, he added: “It would have been good entertainment for the Richard Donald Stand patrons, because the game was played in front of them. They’re great down there – they usually suck the ball into the net, but they didn’t manage it today.

“I can’t fault a player. I can only feel disappointment for them and for the support, because I think any fair-minded neutral would have felt we should have won comfortably.”

Brown declined to criticise referee Alan Muir directly for a first-half incident in which Mehdi Taouil was booked for tripping Scott Vernon just outside the box as the Aberdeen striker bore down on goal, but he did suggest that on another day the Hearts player might have been given a more severe punishment for his offence.

“Prior to that he pulled a jersey, I think, and I thought that was a yellow-card offence,” Brown said of an incident which did not produce a card. “You could argue it was a clear goalscoring opportunity. I would need to know where [Hearts centre-half Andy] Webster was, and I’m biased, but from where I was sitting he was right through on goal.

“But I must admit I don’t like a team going down to ten men. When they do they get a persecution complex and simply battle harder. I’m not looking for opposing players to be sent off.”

Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield agreed that similar displays in the months to come would see them win more often than not. But he also insisted that they could not be happy until they found a solution to their goalscoring problem.

“One day we’re going to give someone a bit of a battering, because I can’t remember when we last created so many chances and have not scored,” Langfield said. “Of course [Aberdeen will be fine if we play like that every week], but you don’t want draws every week. You want to turn these draws into wins.

“We believe we should be four points better off than we are if we had taken our chances. It’s a good sign that we’re talking about that rather than coming off the pitch and saying ‘We’ve not played well and we’ve got a point’.”