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Jim Goodwin bemoans Aberdeen’s nightmare start in 2-0 defeat to Celtic

Jim Goodwin.
Jim Goodwin.

Jim Goodwin was left ruing Aberdeen’s nightmare start in the Premiership opening day 2-0 defeat to Celtic.

The champions struck Aberdeen with an early blow when Stephen Welsh nodded home a corner after only three minutes.

Despite the early setback, Goodwin was pleased with the way his side grew back into the game until Jota wrapped up the points with a late second for the Hoops.

Goodwin says the loss of such a cheap early goal ruined his gameplan to try and frustrate the home side on the day they unfurled the title flag from last season.

Goodwin said: “We knew how difficult it was going to be, when we are playing the champions.

“There was obviously a real carnival atmosphere around the place, and we spoke about the importance of trying to keep them as quiet as possible.

“We wanted to try and cause some anxiety within the stand and hope it crept on to the pitch.

“We couldn’t have started the game any worse, really.

“We gave away a silly corner initially, and then quite simply didn’t defend it well enough.

Stephen Welsh nets Celtic’s opener against Aberdeen.

“Coming to venues like this is difficult as it is at 0-0, but giving a team of Celtic’s quality a 1-0 headstart is not what you need to do.

“I have to credit the players. They didn’t let the heads go down.

“I thought we finished the first half the better, in the last 10 minutes or so.

“At 1-0 at half-time, the message was we were still in the game and we would fancy ourselves to get a chance.

“When it goes 2-0 it’s a long way back. It was a very difficult afternoon, there was no getting away from that.”

A potential turning point came towards the end of the first half, when Jonny Hayes failed to hit the target with the Dons’ best chance of the afternoon.

Goodwin was left wondering what could have been, adding: “You don’t get many chances here, and when you do get them you’ve got to capitalise on them.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that. For the second goal we’ve got to hold our hands up and say that’s a bit of quality from Jota.

“The first goal is the bit that disappoints me. We’ve got to be more aggressive, Welsh just drifts into an area and gets up above us, and there’s no real aggression from us to make sure we are the ones winning that header as opposed to him.”

Goodwin was encouraged by parts of the Reds’ play against Ange Postecoglou’s men, which he hopes his side can take into their upcoming fixtures.

Jim Goodwin and Ange Postecoglou look on from the touchline.

He added: “Obviously we are disappointed, we came into the game with the confidence and momentum from the confidence that we could possibly get a positive result from the game.

“I was trying to explain to them that they are not going to face this level of opposition week-in, week-out in Scotland.

“With the greatest of respect to the teams coming up in the next few fixtures, we are not going to be under as much pressure as we were against Celtic.

“I would imagine we are going to enjoy a bit more possession in the games coming forward.

“We will learn from it, we will certainly watch the game back and see what we can do better.

“It’s the most difficult fixture you could probably get. We have to be positive now looking forward to the St Mirren game.”

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