ABERDEEN
Gutted at the result but pleased with the performance, is a fair summary of Sunday. The manager was on a touchline ban and our midfield has been ravaged by injury - even missing Paul Hartley, who has not only provided 5 goals but organisation, leadership and guts to the team.
Yet we didn't 'do a Walter' and string two lines of 5 deep across the park; we set up in a proper 4-4-2, we tried to play fitba, we showed character, we scored two terrific goals and just the lack of squad depth led to the £20m+ team coming back and beating us in the end.
Really gutting; a horrible result after being 2-0 up, but we're not going mental - once the players start drifting back from the treatment table we can drive on.
There was also character shown in coming back from 2-1 down to beat Raith Rovers in the cup last week, and it is that 3-2 that shows signs that this group of players is a different prospect to those who shamed the shirt in recent seasons.
One weak link is Jamie Langfield, who made yet a third goal-losing error in three games on Sunday and was involved in numerous shaky moments with the already fragile defence. Mark Howard has shown his capabilities this season while Clangers was out through dropping boiling water on his foot; surely now it is time to hand back the No1 shirt to the new boy and face facts that hapless Langfield is a culpable part of the previous failures and it is time to look forward.
