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Calderwood: We lost the plot a bit

Sun 11 Jan, 04:00 PM


Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood was relieved after their 2-1 Scottish Cup win over Alloa after admitting his side had lost their discipline.Sone Aluko's 57th-minute goal handed the Dons a 2-1 fourth-round win at Recreation Park after the home side had cancelled out Lee Miller's fortunate early goal.

Aberdeen took control after the opener but they allowed Alloa back into the game and Andy Scott netted from the penalty spot just before the break.

Calderwood believes they lost their focus and was thankful for Aluko's cool finish after sub Darren Mackie had headed on Jamie Langfield's long kick-out.

The Dons boss said: "I thought we started well and got the goal and then just stopped playing. They caused us problems and we started arguing with the referee.

"They got in our faces but we didn't handle it well. We started getting involved with stupid things instead of playing football. We kind of lost the plot a bit.

"We brought Darren on and that changed it, we got a bit of pace. All credit to Alloa, they played very well and created chances. The most important thing is we got through."

Calderwood's relief was evident after an Aberdeen squad which has been badly hit by flu came through a nervous few late moments on the artificial surface.

"A lot of the guys weren't feeling well during the week and that wouldn't have made them feel much better," Calderwood said.

"We had the plastic pitch at Dunfermline and you get used to the bounce and the pace. "Although we came down on Tuesday, which was great of Alloa to allow us to train on it."

Alloa boss Allan Maitland was proud of his players but confessed Aberdeen's class had told.

"We played our best and that's all we could give," he said. "It was a great effort but we just came up short.

"They had the final pass and the presence in the box that we didn't have."

Maitland had no complaints over referee Steven Nicholls' decision to point to the spot just as they celebrated what they thought was the equaliser.

Nicholls blew for a foul on Dougie Hill a split second before the defender volleyed home Scott's free-kick. However, justice was done as Scott converted the penalty.

"The ref had already blown the whistle," Maitland said.

Calderwood added: "The ref blew early and I didn't actually know what he blew for. I have been in the game a long time and never seen that before."

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