Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

We won’t feel weight of expectation in Finland, says Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes

Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes.
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes insists the weight of expectation will not hang heavy on his players shoulders in Finland.

The Dons dominated a one-side first leg at Pittodrie against RoPS Rovaniemi but have only a one-goal lead to show for their efforts following the loss of an injury-time away goal to the Finnish club.

But the Dons boss believes his side will relish the trip to Keskuskentta on Thursday as they bid to progress to the second qualifying round.

He said: “Other than Burnley last year we have always and been the overwhelming favourites.
“Some of our better performances in the early rounds of Europe have come against teams who have had similar preparation to us, when teams have had that added advantage of being well into their season then it can make the game a bit more of a challenge.

“We have to go into the game full of confidence and to use our experience. We have normally dealt with what is in front of us.

“I think, of all the teams we could have got, logistically it was one of the better ones for us. In terms of the football it is as tough a game as we could have got out of the pot but I understand we are expected to deal with the game. Hopefully we will overcome the challenge we face by being good enough to get into the next round.

“We can take comfort from the experience we have gained in going away to difficult venues and scoring last season. We had the best away record in the league last season which shows our capabilities.”

The Dons have brought in eight new signings so far but Craig Bryson is not expected to feature this week as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury.

The Aberdeen manager is delighted to have reinforced his squad early this season but says naming his strongest team is proving a difficult task.

McInnes takes his side to Finland this week.

He said: “I don’t know what this squad has yet. We’ve lost key players and when you lose players from your starting 11 like Graeme Shinnie we lose some drive but I hope Craig Bryson and Lewis Ferguson can give us that.

“We’ve got more options at the top end of the pitch and certainly have more speed in the team with the younger ones like Scott Wright, Connor McLennan, Ryan Hedges, Jon Gallagher and Ethan Ross.

“We’ve got good options at centre-half too. I look at Hearts, Hibs, Celtic and Rangers and they all have good options at centre-back too. We’ve got players who can put pressure on most of the positions.

“We had a strong squad last year too but what caught us out was the number of injuries we had. If we have a better degree of fortune on that front we’ll be able to meet the challenges domestically and in Europe this year.”