Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes hailed his teenage midfield duo Lewis Ferguson and Dean Campbell for showing maturity beyond their years as they helped the Dons to victory against RoPS in Finland last night.
The Dons, who led 2-1 from the first leg, fell behind in Finland after just 75 seconds but Sam Cosgrove’s penalty and Ferguson’s injury-time goal secured a 2-1 away win for Aberdeen who progress to the second round 4-2 on aggregate.
McInnes said: “We lose a goal in the last 30 seconds in the first game and in the first 90 seconds in this game. It happens. I thought it was a foul on McKenna but the boy took the shot on and it ricocheted past Joe.
“The good thing for me was we had 90 minutes to come back. We were young in the middle of the park with Ferguson and Campbell but they were outstanding when we needed that composure and calmness.
“We played Ferguson against Lingman as he was the one player who we didn’t want to lift his head and enjoy the game.
“Lingman had his moments but when I need a job to be done Ferguson is the one who does it. I was screaming at him towards the end but he got the goal like he did against Burnley.
“Rovaniemi are a good side with a great spirt and Lingman is a top player which means you are never comfortable but no-one can tell me we haven’t dominated both games. We had 33 shots in the first leg and there must have been between 20 and 30 here.
“Our lack of finishing and not putting the game to bed earlier is disappointing but we knew we had to bring a decent level of performance as RoPS pushed us all the way and we deserved to go through.”
Following the win there is little time to celebrate with the Dons boss switching his focus to next week’s second round tie against Chikhura Sachkhere of Georgia.
He said: “Craig Bryson is due to train Sunday and Monday. We took a gamble and when the first goal went in tonight we started to think was it worth it but he is too important to risk here.
“Funso Ojo will be registered for next week and he will bring us options there. We also have defensive injuries in Greg Leigh and Mikey Devlin but having those two boys back next week and two 90 minutes under our belts will help.
“Devlin won’t be fit for next week but we don’t know how long it will be. He will probably miss both games.”
Full match report and reaction – Pages 58-59