Manager Derek McInnes spoke to Dave Macdermid in Dubai after the training game against Lokomotiv Tashkent.

The Game

“We came here to win but we also came here to get through the game and get the benefits from the game.

“So there were still lots of positives from it.

“I thought our goal should have stood when Ryan scored. I spoke to the linesman afterwards and he said he raised his flag because of Adam Rooney but Adam has not touched the ball before Ryan flicked it in. The goal should have stood and that was disappointing.

“Ryan also hit the post just prior to that. We created plenty of chances and that is the one little area that we can improve. We had a lot of the ball and created chances but never scored.

“For their two goals I think we have a part to play, especially from the set play, but it was clearly a goal kick and it was awarded as a corner and they score from that.

“I thought the referee made it difficult for both teams, particularly ourselves. The game threatened to boil over in the first 45 minutes. Some of the challenges were boarding on dangerous. We needed a referee to gain control of that.

“I had a word with their manager at half time and we tried to settle everyone down a bit. The second half was competitive enough without being silly or irresponsible.

“We were guilty of missed opportunities but there were some strong performances. The game showed we are not too far away despite having the break.”

The Youngsters

“Once you get all the younger boys on you start to get even more positives from the game. They all acquitted themselves very well.

“All the younger ones did well. Sometimes you do not get that fluency when you make so many changes in the game, it was almost a full team going on but I thought the players deserve credit for still having that cohesion. Dean Campbell, Frank Ross, Danny Harvie – Scott Wright and McKenna we know more about – but they all did well for being so young against good opposition. Our opponents are going into the Champions League in Asia in February after winning their league very comfortably.”

Chidi Nwakali

“He did very well.

“He is clearly going to be behind (fitness wise) as he has not played a competitive game for a month so it was another reason why we were keen to get him 60 minutes today. How he played was how he has been in training and how he was in all the games we watched prior to bringing him here. He has lovely soft feet, looks after the ball, he can turn the ball over for us, he has a shot on him. He just needs to quicken his game up a little bit and that comes from being short of a bit of match sharpness.

“He can now build on the 60 minutes which he has under his belt. I was really pleased with him.”

Injury update

“Andy Considine felt a little strain at the back end of the session yesterday. I think if this had been a competitive game back home we would probably have played Andy. I am not overly concerned about it for next week. We did not want to go back with any more injuries than we came with so we decided to leave him out in this game.”

Scott McKenna

The manager confirmed there has been a bid from English Championship side Hull City for the Aberdeen central defender but he will not be leaving Pittodrie any time soon.

“There has been an offer. There was then a secondary offer in terms of tweaking the figures but nothing more on the down payment.

“It does not really matter.

“They have been told we have no interest or appetite to sell Scott. He will not be sold in January.

“There will be a time when Scott McKenna will move on and he will be sold at some point, but it certainly is not going to be in this window. And it will be when we feel he is going to be the player that he is going to be, hopefully on the back of breaking into the Scotland team and after playing 100 to 150 games for us.”

St Mirren

“The Scottish Cup is vitally important for all of us at Aberdeen.

“We want to do as well as we can.

“It is a tough opening game for us but we are at home and we want to make that home advantage count.

“We want to make sure we are ready for it because we are up against a team playing with a lot of confidence.

“It will be tough. St Mirren are a Premiership team in waiting. I have been very impressed with the work Jack has done. He has assembled a very good squad.

“We have to make sure it is a very difficult afternoon for them and show the importance of the competition with our performance.”