Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin has a major concern over Dimitar Mitov going into their top of the table clash with Celtic.
The big keeper went off at half-time in the draw with Hearts with what looked like a leg muscle injury. Ross Doohan came on to replace the Bulgarian international and he might have to play against his former club when the Hoops come calling to Pittodrie on Wednesday. Thelin said: “Let’s see tomorrow, we need to make a real check on him first, but he couldn’t keep playing so we needed to change him. I want them to see exactly what it is first before I say something. Let’s see, but the good thing was Ross came in and did really well and he looked really prepared, so we have a good squad.”
James McGarry, who made his first league start also went off after taking a knock but Thelin doesn’t think that is as serious. The Swede added: “Again, I don’t know exactly what happened, I think it was more a hit, I’m not so worried about his hamstring, but let’s see.”
The Dons dropped another two points as they drew 1-1 with bottom side Hearts. They had gone ahead through Leighton Clarkson but a Nicky Devlin own goal cancelled that out. Aberdeen now find themselves four points behind Celtic after a tortuous three game spell on the road that saw them pick up two points from nine. Thelin is confident that it will turn again for the Reds.
He stated: “Yeah, that’s why I think some parts are really good still in the team. Sometimes during a long season you have periods when the dynamic is not perfect and then there are strange things that happen that usually don’t happen.
“Every team is going to get this period, and how we get out of them is the most important, and you come back again to the dynamic. During this period now, we have these three away games. We draw twice and lose one, and it was not the perfect flow, but it happens every year in every team some part of the season, and hopefully we can get out quite well and get the rhythm again.”
Thelin has no complaints about the Tynecastle result. He admitted: “I think it’s a fair result when the game is over. We have some parts when we have 1-0 and we can do better maybe, but also they did well.
“How the game went on, sometimes we lost the rhythm and dynamic in our team. Then we give away the ball in some situations and they create momentum from that.
“That’s something we need to keep working with. When it’s intense and we’re not really there, then we can make these small mistakes and that can also give momentum for Hearts, but also vice versa, Hearts did some in some areas and we get the ball.
“It was quite a busy game in some situations. It’s still for us, our journey is still long-term, we have a lot of things to improve and that’s what we’re trying to do every week, and grow with that.”
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