Stuart Armstrong demands Aberdeen turn Shakhtar 'clear the air' moment into something real
The Dons have finally broken their Pittodrie goal duck and now Armstrong is expecting a lot more.
Stuart Armstrong knows Aberdeen must make the Shakhtar Donetsk game the turning point in their season.
The Scottish Cup winners have struggled to get going and their only one win, in all competitions, has come against Championship Morton.
The Dons haven’t even scored a league goal yet and sit bottom of the Premiership with a point.
The positive was the fact that they opened their Pittodrie scoring account, as they netted twice in the narrow 3-2 defeat to big-spending Shakhtar Donetsk in the Conference League on Thursday night.
The Scotland midfielder said: “The first positive to take was the goals and then the fight we showed.
“We looked dangerous, we had energy and the crowd was behind us.
“Hopefully this is a bit of a turning point because our league form needs to pick up.
“Shakhtar was a different challenge to what we will face on Sunday, but we have to take the experience forward into that.
“We have to turn it into something real - goals, a win and points.
“Every game is big but considering our start, it places a greater importance on getting something.
“That something is a win and that’s what we’re looking for, everyone at the club is aware of that.
“The positivity of the last quarter hour or so will really help us.
“We had a strong finish and fought to the end, so we can be proud of that.”
Everyone connected with Aberdeen was delighted to see Karlsson net from the spot against Shakhtar. It was the first goal they had seen at Pittodrie this term. Nicky Devlin then added another.
Armstrong is hoping it can now spark a home goal rush. "It was a relief when Jesper stuck the penalty in,” the former Southampton star claimed.
“It cleared the air almost because it was like ‘we can score a goal’.
“We need to build from that now because when you don’t score for a few games it becomes a talking point.
“Thats where you have to remain calm within ourselves, stay positive and remain focused on showing we can be a good football team.
“We have a lot of attacking threats in the team so hopefully the goals will come now.
“Scoring twice against Shakhtar showed we can do it and hopefully it can be like buses, one comes along and then there’s many more to come.”
Aberdeen went ahead and then fell 3-1 behind before they fought back again but it was too little too late.
Armstrong acknowledged: “It was a tough game, we scored early but ended up in a low block for a long time and to lose the goal so close to half-time was a sore one.
“We ended up quite deep so that allowed them space and the balance is a bit more open for them.
“We had to find the balance so to lose the two goals in the second half was disappointing.
“The positive was the way we fought back.”
Another major plus point for Jimmy Thelin's Aberdeen was the performance of Marko Lazetic on his first start. The former AC Milan player led the line well and also looked a goal threat. His powerful drive was pushed on to the bar, before Devlin scored.
Armstrong claimed: “Marko was really good, his energy was fantastic and he pressed relentlessly.
“He’s powerful and has an eye for goal.
“His turn and shot for Nicky’s goal was fantastic.
“Marko is still a young player but you could see what he showed against quality opposition and it was positive for the team.
“His effort was incredible, he gave us a focal point to hold it up and bring others into it.
“And then there’s the quality with his shooting.”