Aberdeen 'clear the air' and hope to catch another bus after Conference League display

When you are on a wretched run of form such as the one Aberdeen are experiencing right now, you cling on to positives even in defeat.

The Dons may have opened their Conference League campaign with a 3-2 defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk at Pittodrie on Thursday evening but there were plus points, namely that they found the net not once but twice.

For a team that has failed to score in all of its six Premiership matches this term and sit bottom of the league on one point, there is hope that ending a six-week goal drought across all competitions can spark a change of fortunes when Dundee come to town on Sunday.

Stuart Armstrong celebrates Aberdeen's opening goal with penalty marksman Jesper Karlsson. | SNS Group

For many, the visit of Dundee is in the must-win category. With a two-week international break to follow, some believe that defeat could spell the end of manager Jimmy Thelin - although he has deep support from chairman Dave Cormack.

And why wouldn’t he, after delivering the Scottish Cup back in May. But backed heavily with a number of eye-catching summer signings, sitting bottom of the league in October is not acceptable for a club of Aberdeen’s stature. Whatever happens against Dundee, the Dons will still prop up the table.

One of the new recruits is experienced midfielder Stuart Armstrong. The former Celtic and Southampton man has seen a lot during his career and the 33-year-old believes Jesper Karlsson’s early penalty and Nicky Devlin’s header against strong Ukrainian opponents “cleared the air” for him and his embattled teammates.

Aberdeen use the old bus analogy

“It was a relief when Jesper stuck the penalty in,” admitted Armstrong. “It cleared the air almost because it was like ‘we can score a goal’. We need to build from that now because when you don’t score for a few games it becomes a talking point.

“That’s where we have to remain calm within ourselves, stay positive and remain focused on showing we can be a good football team. We have a lot of attacking threats in the team so hopefully the goals will come now. Scoring twice against Shakhtar showed we can do it and hopefully it can be like buses, one comes along and then there’s many more to come.”

Shakhtar, with six Brazilians in their team, played with plenty of flair. Aberdeen are unlikely to face a team again this season so good at manipulating the ball. So to lose 3-2 may in time appear a decent display. More immediately, domestic points are vital for a team that has only won five of its past 32 Premiership games.

“The first positive to take was the goals and then the fight we showed,” said Armstrong. “We looked dangerous, we had energy and the crowd were behind us. Hopefully this is a bit of a turning point because our league form needs to pick up.

“Shakhtar were a different challenge to what we will face on Sunday, but we have to take the experience forward into that. We have to turn it into something real - goals, a win and points. Every game is big but considering our start, it places a greater importance on getting something. That something is a win and that’s what we’re looking for, everyone at the club is aware of that.”