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The sense of relief Joe Lewis and his Aberdeen team-mates felt as they negotiated their way into another Europa Conference League qualifier, was palpable as the goalkeeper prepares to go into his sixth Premiership campaign for the Dons.
They were on the receiving end of a 2-0 defeat to BK Hacken in Sweden on Thursday night with Lewis conceding a penalty kick, and now face a trip to Iceland on Thursday and a tie against Breidalblik following their 5-3 aggregate score against the side from Gothenburg.
It was a wake-up call that will engage he thoughts of manager Stephen Glass as the Reds welcome more than 6,000 fans to Pittodrie tomorrow as the focus turns to league football with the loss to Hacken bringing some kind of reality back to the changing room.
The aim of Glass’s outfit is to repeat that first leg performance to underline the attacking and quick-passing policy they hope will see them make an impact this season.
Although he was on the substitutes’ bench when the teams squared-up in a Scottish Cup quarter-final tie at Pittodrie last April – Gary Woods was on goalkeeping duty that day – Lewis remembers how the Arabs left as 3-0 winners, courtesy of a brace from Marc McNulty and a strike from Ryan Edwards. It was Glass’s first defeat as the Aberdeen manager.
“It is good to get the fans in,” Lewis said, “and hopefully we can put on a performance against Dundee United like the one we did at home in Europe to get the supporters going again. We obviously want to go as far as we can in Europe and also do well domestically, too.
“Dundee United are a good side. They showed that in the cup last season, but we have to look to ourselves and we need to try and replicate the levels we showed at Pittodrie against BK Hacken. If we can do that then we will give ourselves a real good chance of getting another positive result.”
The 33-year-old shot-stopper, an ever-present in the Aberdeen side since his 2016 move from Cardiff City, described Thursday night’s European encounter as “a good test” that highlighted how well they had played in the first leg to win 5-1 against such a quality team.
“They were always going to have a real go,” he said. “We created some more chances, but we weren’t quite as clinical as we were in the first game.
“We managed to weather the storm and see the game out and get through and that was pleasing because we knew it was a difficult tie when it was drawn. To get through 5-3, looking at the whole picture, is a good result.”
Hacken manager Per-Mathias Högmo had no idea what the new-look Dons were capable of and was shocked at how they overwhelmed his side.
On the other hand, Tam Courts, the man now in charge at Dundee United, having seen tomorrow’s opponents in action in that Europa tie, is fully aware of the Pittodrie outfit’s capabilities with former Celtic skipper Scott Brown calling the shots in midfield and strikers Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Christian Ramirez a handful for any defence.
Glass has put much faith in those front men and, with their height and power, not to say ability, expects them to deliver the goals that were lacking last season.
He said: “There’s an appetite from our fans to get back to Pittodrie and to see the team perform and we’ll be ready for it. The start of the league season is always exciting and we’re looking forward to it.”
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