New boy Angus MacDonald reckons Europe is still within reach for Aberdeen ahead of Saturday’s clash with Motherwell.
Centre-back MacDonald, 30, joined the Dons from English League One Swindon Town on deadline day, penning a deal until the end of the season.
Wednesday’s 3-1 Pittodrie loss to St Mirren means it is just one win from nine Premiership matches since the winter break for the Reds, and they find themselves seventh in the league table.
The Buddies side they lost to in midweek currently occupy fourth place – the final European spot – but are only four points ahead of Aberdeen, having played a game fewer.
MacDonald said the target in the Dons dressing room is “getting this club back into the European places”, and he added: “When you are going through a bad patch, you look for that one positive result or outcome that changes everything and results start to go your way and decisions start to go your way.
“It is just about getting that one result to change things around.”
Striking up defensive pairing with Mattie Pollock on debut
An experienced defender, having played English Championship football with Barnsley, Hull City and Rotherham United, MacDonald was pitched straight in for his Aberdeen debut against St Mirren, lining up at centre-half alongside another late January window signing in Watford loanee Mattie Pollock.
The Dons were reduced to 10 men minutes into the clash, when Ross McCrorie was controversially dismissed by referee Grant Irvine, and late goals from ex-Reds Curtis Main and then Declan Gallagher then condemned the Reds to another painful defeat after Bojan Miovski’s penalty had cancelled out Main’s early second half opener.
Despite the result, there was a sense among supporters MacDonald and Pollock showed the makings of a promising centre-back pairing, with the elder of the pair saying: “It is hard to build a relationship in the space of 24 hours.
“He (Pollock) has been in the game long enough.
“I know he is a young lad, but he has experience and we both know our jobs.
“We both know we needed to be solid – and solid moving forward to turn the bad run of form into a positive one.”
Aberdeen are currently being managed by interim boss Barry Robson, after Jim Goodwin paid the price for their dreadful post-World Cup form last weekend.
It remains to be seen whether stand-in Robson will stick with MacDonald and Pollock at the back for Saturday’s Pittodrie clash with 11th-placed Motherwell.
He might opt to bring in Celtic loanee Liam Scales – suspended for the St Mirren game after being sent off in the 6-0 loss at Hibs which brought the axe down on Goodwin.
Scales had partnered Anthony Stewart, the deposed club captain who was allowed to leave on loan to MK Dons on deadline day, at the back for most of a campaign where clean sheets have been hard to come by.
‘Rollercoaster’ week for MacDonald
Joining the Dons at a time when they are without a permanent manager has made for an interesting and frenetic week for MacDonald, with the loss to St Mirren in the middle of it, but it has been one he’s enjoyed.
The player, who only knew Marley Watkins in the Reds squad before joining, said: “It has been a bit of a rollercoaster.
“I got chucked in at the deep end and we had the circumstances of the sending off in the first few minutes, which didn’t help.
“It has been enjoyable other than that.
“The lads have taken to me well and everybody around the training ground and stadium have all been very welcoming. That makes life a little easier.
“It has been a tricky couple of weeks with the results and we just need to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.”
MacDonald shed more light on how his move from Swindon to the Dons came about, having only joined the Robins earlier in the season on a two-year contract and having captained the Wiltshire outfit earlier this term.
Confirming Swindon agreed to terminate his deal to facilitate his move north, MacDonald explained: “It worked for both parties.
“The manager (Scott Lindsey) left and went to Crawley.
“When this came about they wanted to get more people through the door at Swindon, so it worked both ways.”
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