Post-Match Reaction | Jim Goodwin
Jim Goodwin spoke to the press after the Dons’ Scottish Cup defeat at Darvel.
“I could talk about how bad we were but that would be doing a disservice to Darvel. They thoroughly deserved their victory. We weren’t at it, for whatever reason, very flat at times, lacked creativity and a cutting edge in the final third. Darvel got their noses in front and defended for their lives and deserved to go through.
“The last two results have been extremely disappointing. To concede five at Hearts and then to go to a Junior team in the cup and get turned over, it’s embarrassing, it’s humiliating for everybody connected with the club. I speak on behalf of the staff and the players and I can only apologise to the supporters.
“We are very embarrassed by what has gone on here but as I said, I don’t want to take anything away from Darvel. They were at it from the first minute, they got in front from a goal that summed up our defending for large spells of this season, a soft one from our point of view, and then they defended for their lives.
“We didn’t work the goalkeeper enough. We had chances, I thought Clarkson’s run for the disallowed goal was well timed, but I’m clutching at straws to be thinking of that goal taking us to extra-time. It should never have got to that. We need to do better, we need to work harder, we need to stick together and we need to turn it round.
“As a manager, especially of a club of the size of Aberdeen, you need to win games of football. Our form since the return after the World Cup hasn’t been good enough. Tonight is an extremely difficult result to take after a really poor performance that lacked any urgency and any creativity at the top end of the pitch. We need to assess what went on, we’ll have our meetings with the players and we’ll look to come out fighting at Easter Road on Saturday.
“We’re all in it together. I’m the manager, I pick the team and I thought the team we started with was strong. We made changes at half-time to try and spark us into life, but it wasn’t to be. It’s my responsibility to make sure the performances are where they need to be and unfortunately tonight, that wasn’t the case.
“We are going through a very difficult period but I’ve got confidence in the squad we’ve got. We have to stick together, keep fighting, work hard, and put on a good display against Hibs on Saturday.”
