HOME WHERE KICKSTART IS FOR DANDIES

No points but helluva lot of pride reclaimed by Dons

- BY SCOTT BURNS

ABERDEEN opened up without any points but at least brought some much-needed pride and fight back to Pittodrie.

Jimmy Thelin’ side came out on the wrong end of a five-goal thriller against Shakhtar Donetsk.

Thelin had been given full backing from chairman Dave Cormack and got similar from his team.

Yes, they were once again punished at this level for their mistakes but they gave one of the favourites for this tournament a real fright.

Aberdeen hadn't scored a goal at Pittodrie this season but finally got off the mark.

Jesper Karlsson put them ahead from the spot but a mix of some brilliance by the away side plus poor defending saw Shakhtar go 3-1 ahead through goals from Yehor Nazaryna, Lucas Ferreira and Pedrinho.

Nicky Devlin got one back for Aberdeen and they pushed for a leveller but fell just short.

The teams came into this game in contrasting form.

The Dons’ only win had come in the Premier Sports Cup against Morton while they had dropped out of the Europa League plus Premier Sports Cup on top of being bottom of the table with a point and without a goal.