Ahead of Aberdeen’s UEFA Europa Conference League game in a snowy Helsinki tomorrow, Barry Robson and Richard Jensen attended the pre-match press conference.

BARRY ROBSON

Results in the opening four games mean the Dons – and HJK – can no long progress from the group, but Barry Robson made it clear that tomorrow’s game is anything but a dead rubber.

“This remains a really important game to us. It’s a game we want to try and win, because the frustration for me in Europe is that I don’t think we have the points we’ve deserved from the way we’ve played. Hopefully tomorrow we play well and pick up some points too. It’ll be a good game. I thought they were a good side when they played at Aberdeen so it’ll be a tough one in their stadium, but we’re looking forward to it.

“It’s not a dead game just because we can’t qualify. We’ve got 1,500 fans here, they are hugely important to us, they’ve spent a lot of money getting here and we want to try to get a win for them. We’re Aberdeen Football Club with the expectations and traditions that brings in Europe, and we need to put a performance on for them and for the fans at home.”

Helsinki is carpeted in snow with expected temperatures of around minus nine tomorrow night. But the manager shrugged off any concerns, pointing to the weather as they left Aberdeen today.

“We did our match prep at Cormack Park on Wednesday morning before we flew out, and it was minus three or four there, so I don’t think the cold here will be too different to what we’re used to! They’ve an artificial surface here as well but we play on those in Scotland too, so we’re well prepared for things here. Our job is to play well, just try and give a good account if ourselves. We know it’s the last home game of their season, it’s the manager’s last game and so on, but our focus is on us, on what we do and on putting some points on the board.

“We’ve spoken a lot about wanting to get our first win of the group. I felt we played well against Helsinki in the first game, we could have got a point in Frankfurt, we were ahead late on against PAOK, we played well in Greece. We’ve gone toe to toe against some big teams there and we could have had some more points to show for it.

“It hasn’t been straightforward. For us, we had to rebuild in the summer, some players have played at this level, some hadn’t, but we’ve all learnt a lot from the European games. The more you play in them, the better you get and that’s why we want to give it our best tomorrow night, because we will learn again.”

RICHARD JENSEN

Returning to his native Finland, Richard Jensen was clear that it’s just another game for him.

“It’s fun for me to be playing in Finland of course, and the weather is lovely too! To play at HJK after being with their youth team is nice, I got my education in the game here and in Finland, and I’m very grateful for that, but I’m fully focused on the job we need to do tomorrow. The game here is no more important to me than any other this season, the three points are just the same wherever we play.

“We have to play very well because we saw already that they are a very skilful and disciplined team. We had a good game in Aberdeen, I thought we had enough chances to win the game and hopefully we can do that tomorrow.”

In that first game at Pittodrie, Richard found himself in the wars with a cut around the eye that saw hi have to head off the pitch to get treatment. Like any good centre-half, he made light of the knock.

“The injury in the first game was just a scratch! The doctors did a great job in stitching me up and getting me back out on the pitch really fast. Hopefully, I will get through this game intact!

“I am looking forward to getting out there because I think we have played some of our best games in Europe, some incredible performances, but we did not get the results that we should have done. We could have many more points now and still be looking to qualify. I think we have learnt a lot in these games, and from the games in Scotland as well. I think we’ve grown from week to week, we’re starting to perform as a good team at a more consistent level, getting out there on the pitch every three or four days.”

Richard is well known at HJK of course and he admits there has been some banter flying back and forth ahead of the game.

“The coach here sent me a message with a picture of the snowy pitch, maybe to scare me! But I don’t think we Finns like the cold either, so HJK don’t have any big advantage from that! We know from the first game that they are good opposition but we need to do what we do, be at our best and make sure the three points travel with us to Aberdeen.”

Shutting out the opposition would go a long way towards doing that and Richard is very clear that Aberdeen’s backline are becoming increasingly tight with every game.

“As defenders, we value clean sheets. If we make an important block or tackle, it’s like scoring a goal and we should celebrate that too. We are all enjoying what we do on the pitch, we are enjoying playing together, defensively and offensively and we are a very tight group. There’s good character here and we have to keep showing that.”