Euro hero Nicky Devlin hopes his dramatic goal against BK Hacken is payback for his team-mates’ support after his costly Celtic blunder.
Summer signing Devlin netted the equaliser in Aberdeen’s 2-2 Europa League play-off first leg draw with the Swedish champions in Gothenburg.
Defender Devlin reckons he “owed the boys a performance” after a mistake on his Pittodrie debut led to Celtic scoring in a 3-1 loss.
His misjudged header at 1-1 was intercepted by Kyogo Furuhashi, who fired home.
Devlin says his team-mates all backed him following that mistake– and it is a camaraderie he has never experienced before.
Devlin’s goal in Sweden completed a sensational comeback as the Dons were trailing 2-0 with just 15 minutes remaining.
The comeback reignited Aberdeen’s bid to reach the Europa League group stage.
He said: “I know myself I cost the game against Celtic a couple of weeks ago, so I owed the boys a performance and moment like that.
“Hopefully that goes a wee bit to repay the boys as they have been excellent from the start of the season.
“It was great to get my first goal for the club.
“I’ve probably not scored a goal as important as that in my career.
“The mistake against Celtic was so early in the game as there was still an hour to go.
“The reaction from the rest of the boys, I have never had that before.
“I made a mistake and almost every single player came up to me and made sure I forgot it and that I could go again.
“That was a big help.”
‘When we are at Pittodrie we fancy taking anyone on’
BK Hacken looked to be heading to Pittodrie with the upper hand as they led 2-0 with just a quarter-hour remaining.
However, the Dons hit back through Bojan Miovski in the 75th minute.
Miovski then played in Devlin four minutes later and the defender netted with a superb finish.
Devlin admits the quick-fire goal salvo hauled the Dons out of a “sticky situation” – but had no doubt the goals would come.
He said: “We are always going to create chances and always feel like we are in games regardless of who we are playing.
“Don’t get me wrong, 2-0 down away from home in Europe is not a great situation to be in.
“You maybe do start thinking about the next game and how difficult the game is going to be to turn it around.
“We have went from maybe being in a sticky situation to having it all to play for in the second leg.
“When we are at Pittodrie, we fancy taking anyone on.”
‘We want to be on the front foot’
BK Hacken were on the ropes in the final 10 minutes at the Bravida Arena.
The Dons exposed the Swedish champions’ defensive vulnerability in an impressive second half performance.
However, Devlin is well aware of BK Hacken’s threat in the return leg.
He said: “Wherever we play we want to make sure teams know they are in a game.
“The manager has recruited and brought players in and that’s the way we want to play.
“We want to be on the front foot whether we have the ball or not we want teams to know they are up against it when we play them.
“We managed to do that against Hacken even in the first half.
“Even when we went 1-0 down, we had good chances in the first half to punish them, but didn’t manage to take them.
“In the second half, we did manage to take them.
“It is not job done. But it sets it up nice for the game at Pittodrie on Thursday.”
Family in Gothenburg to see goal
Devlin’s crucial equaliser came in his first-ever European game.
It held extra significance as it was in front of his mum and dad, who had travelled to Gothenburg to support him.
He said: “It’s a big moment for me and my family.
“My mum and dad were there.
“They got the train and the bus up from Copenhagen so they enjoyed it.
“They were never going to miss my European debut and would have gone wherever it was.”
Conversation