Jim Goodwin admits the most frustrating element of his dugout ban last weekend was his inability to sort out his Aberdeen team at half-time after they lost two goals to Dundee United just before the break.
The Dons boss watched in horror from the Tannadice stand as his players eventually lost 4-0 – a result and performance for which he made a fulsome apology to the 4,000 fans who had travelled from the Granite City. And he admits the only way the club can make it up to them is by beating Hearts in Sunday’s clash at Pittodrie.
Goodwin said: “It was extremely disappointing and we tried something new. Both clubs were trying a different approach to the game with the evening kick-off. We had brought a huge travelling support to the game and we let them down, it’s as simple as that. We were coming into that game off the back of a very good result and performance against Kilmarnock.
“For whatever reason we were just not able to break Dundee United down. I thought we were in control of possession for large periods at 0-0 but we didn’t do a great deal with it.
“That’s the frustrating bit from our point of view. I don’t think it was a 4-0 game. I don’t think we deserved to be on the end of a 4-0 drubbing.
“But certainly at 2-0 United we felt we were still in the game. At half-time that is the challenging part of it [the ban].
“Losing the one with a few minutes to go before half-time was fair enough as you can talk about it at half-time and get it sorted. But to lose a second one so quickly after that and go in 2-0 down at half-time in a game we weren’t really troubled a great deal was a difficult one to take.
“The difficulty is trying to get that message across when you are trying to implement changes. To be there to support the players and the rest of the staff, that’s the difficult part.
“Not being in the dressing room before the game doesn’t really matter because we do all of our build-up Monday to Friday. We always have an analysis meeting, a kind of overview of the week, normally three hours before kick-off.”
Aberdeen’s home form has been excellent this season and their manager is looking for his team to bounce back in style against Hearts.
He added: “We have shown in weeks gone by that we have been able to bounce back under difficult circumstances. The Easter Road game where we lost 3-1 we bounced back with a really positive result against Kilmarnock winning 4-1, we have to do the same this weekend against a very good Hearts team.”
And he hinted that a couple of changes to the starting line-up could be made in the wake of the Tannadice defeat. Goodwin said: “Connor Barron has had another really good week’s training and Leighton Clarkson was back in the squad last Saturday. One or two players have been very patient and we will see what happens once we make the decision on the starting XI.”
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