THERE was not a single occasion during Sir Alex Ferguson’s glorious eight-and-a-half year reign at Pittodrie that Aberdeen found themselves trailing by two goals at half-time when they were facing Celtic at Parkhead.
But you could imagine what the legendary Scottish manager’s response would have been if there was – tea cups sent flying, his players’ parentage called into question, paint burned off the dressing room walls.
So was a meltdown of the kind which Sir Alex, who took in the William Hill Premiership match between his former club and the defending champions in the East End of Glasgow on Saturday alongside his old friend Willie Haughey, was prone to in his heyday responsible for the spirited second half fightback which the visitors staged at the weekend?
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“He's very calm,” said his captain Graeme Shinnie as he looked back over one of the most entertaining, incident-packed and atmospheric Premiership games in a long time.
“He doesn't let the emotion of the game take over his decisions. He tries to stay calm during the game and at half-time, so he can make the right decisions. That's the style that he's got, which is important in football. You can't get caught up in the emotions of football because you can then make some wrong decisions. He's very level-headed.
“But it was a mix of everything to be honest. Everyone was chatting at half-time. We had to calm it down. Everyone's emotions were high, but we calmed it down, we spoke and we galvanised. We came out a lot better in the second half.
“We wanted to go out on the front foot. We wanted to turn it around. We wanted to do that as quickly as we could. We needed a couple of changes just to inject that bit of urgency and pace into the team and I thought it (Duk and Ester Sokler replaced Kevin Nisbet and Leighton Clarkson) worked really well.”
Indeed it did. The visitors, who had gone into the top-of-the-table encounter on the back of a 13 match winning run, came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 thanks to Sokler and Shinnie goals. They extended their unbeaten record under Thelin and remained level with their opponents on points at the top of the table.
Aberdeen held for their lives on during the 13 minutes which referee Nick Walsh added on. Dimitar Mitov palmed away an Adam Idah header and Duk cleared an Alistair Johnston effort off the goal line. A Celtic penalty claim at the death was dismissed after a VAR check. It was dramatic, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat stuff.
Shinnie was unaware that Ferguson was looking on until afterwards. But he was positive the man who has a statue outside of the Dick Donald Stand at Pittodrie would have wholeheartedly approved of what he witnessed.
“Before the game I said we had to go in with belief in our own team and no fear because we know we're a good side. We've been playing well at times. We're obviously on a good run, so it was trying to implement that.
“We didn't want to come and sit in and drop pressure on ourselves. We wanted to try and be on the front foot. The first half? Maybe not as good as what we wanted. But the second half? Definitely a lot better.”
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Aberdeen have an awfully long way to go to emulate any of the successes which Sir Alex oversaw at Pittodrie. Still, they certainly passed the sternest test they have faced to date this term and strongly suggested they can continue to put pressure on top flight leaders Celtic. Shinnie is sure even more is to come from them in the weeks and months ahead.
“We’ve come down here many times, lost two goals in quick succession in the first half and then gone on to lose quite heavy,” he said. “So to show that character in the second half and play some good stuff at times on the counter attack was good. We'll take the draw and we'll move on.
“I thought we rattled them, especially when we got it back to 2-2. I did feel at that point we could have maybe gone on and snatched a third. We did ride our luck at the end, but they rode their luck a little bit at times as well.
“I don’t think it will change anything majorly. It's October and we're still trying to get better. The manager is still trying to implement loads of stuff that he wants to do. In the first half, I didn't think we were great. So we'll analyse that and how we can get better. We just keep our heads down and keep working hard.”
“Shayden Morris came in and stopped crosses. Nicky Devlin worked hard. I thought he marked Daizen Maeda very well. Jamie McGrath showed running power and his passing was excellent. I thought he was brilliant. But I could go through the whole team. The grit and determination were there.”
Those were traits which the great Aberdeen teams of the 1970s and 1980s which Fergie managed had in abundance. Do they have the quality and strength in depth which they need to challenge for major honours this term? Only time will tell. But it is obvious they have an exceptional and experienced coach who will not wilt when the heat is on.
