Stephen Glass reflected on a night where his team showed both their quality and their determination to secure an important one goal advantage ahead of the second leg of the tie with Breidablik next week.

“We made an unbelievable start. The goals came from set pieces which Allan has been working on with the boys, in what has been a limited time, but he got the information into them and we got the rewards from that.

“Christian is an intelligent player and if you show him things on video then he grasps what’s needed of him very quickly, even if we don’t always have time to work on it on the training pitch because of the schedule at the minute. The delivery from Calvin was excellent and it was a great finish from Christian. We can do work to set them up with ideas, but it’s up to the players to execute it and they did that really well tonight.

“We were very pleased with that and with Lewis’ goal, but then not so pleased that we got a bit loose, a bit careless and we allowed them back into the game by half-time.

“I felt the penalty was soft from where I was watching from, which is 50 yards away, but maybe it livened us up a wee bit as well, gave us a spark. The pitch was softer than they’re used to and we did look a bit leggy at times, but there’s no excuses. We asked for a reaction in the second half and we got it.

“The big message at half-time was not to panic. We allowed them back into the game, it wasn’t what they did so much, even though they are a good side, but they were pulling us about a bit by switching the play.

“Our change in shape meant we got Declan on to help in the air, but with three central defenders, it also helped the young full-backs, gave them support and gave us a bit more control again. Connor’s pace was an obvious danger as well, that caused them problems. The three boys that came off are big players for us so it was a big decision, but I think it was the right one.

“What we saw from there was a great response from this group of players. We had a change of shape and they understood what was required of them from that tactically, but they also worked so hard and were rewarded for that with an away win against a good team.

“We controlled things in the second half, they didn’t have too much that troubled us, everything was in front of us, so that was pleasing. We were a tired looking group at the end but they dug a result out which is so important when you go away in Europe. I was very pleased with that response and the resolve the boys showed.

“The players who have been mostly on the bench so far, they’ve been patient, waiting their chance. But they know that when their turn comes, they have to be ready and the boys who came on showed they were tonight.

“We’ve been able to look after how much work the boys who haven’t been playing have done, we’ve put the right amount of workload into them, so they’re ready to play. Sunday comes around pretty quick, there’ll be a few changes ahead of that, but we’ll go to Livingston with a team we believe can win the game.”

Aberdeen might be a goal to the good, but Breidablik showed enough tonight to suggest they can still be a threat next week. It’ll be a night to test the Red Army, as the manager underlines.

“The tie isn’t over by a long way and I think we all have a part to play next week. I don’t know if they’ll have played many games in an environment and an atmosphere like Pittodrie so it’s important we get lots of fans in the ground and make it a place where we can enjoy playing, where we can respond to the supporters and where we can get the result we want.”