McGhee: Big win beyond expectations

Mark McGhee said he did not doubt Aberdeen would return to winning ways after watching their 4-2 victory over Hibernian in the SPL. The Dons boss had blamed a recent spate of injuries for his team's recent poor run of form which saw them pick up only one point from a possible 18.However, with the likes of Sone Aluko and Paul Hartley back available the Dons convincingly defeated Hibernian 4-2, leading by four goals at one stage before a late Hibs rally.McGhee said: "After the loss to Hearts last Saturday I didn't feel in any way despondent."I felt anticipation and that a lot of what I had been thinking and hoping while we had the spate of injuries was going to be true that when we have these players back it would get better."I hoped that we would progress this week and we did. I didn't expect to win 4-2 and scoring four goals was probably beyond our expectations."The Aberdeen boss singled out Chris Maguire, who scored the opening goal, for the part he played in the win.McGhee believes the young striker's fine form this season is a result of having been inspired by watching Spain win the World Cup in the summer.He said: "Chris has come back with a renewed sense of maturity since he came back from Kilmarnock and he talked a lot about what he saw at the World Cup and watching Spain in particular."They have a lot of players like him who are not of great stature but work hard. He has taken that into his game and he has gained a lot of confidence from his performances for the under-21s."The Dons' fourth came courtesy of a Paul Hartley penalty, after striker Scott Vernon had tried unsuccessfully to assume the spot-kick responsibilities.McGhee said that Vernon believed he had already scored twice when the penalty was awarded and was eager to score a hat-trick.He added: "The fourth official had told us that the first goal has been credited as an own goal so the penalty wasn't for a hat-trick. Had it been for a hat-trick we would have probably let Vernon step up and take it."As it wasn't for a hat-trick we felt that our penalty taker should take it, just to make sure."Hibernian boss Colin Calderwood, in his first match in charge of his new club, was disappointed with his side's performance but felt he could take some positives from the defeat.He said: "It's a horrible result for us but hopefully we have learned from the mistakes. We have to be a team rather than good individuals, which I can see that we are. We need a wee bit of cohesion, teamwork and some work on the training pitch."Hopefully we will look as though we are moving forward over the next two or three weeks. The advantage is we managed to score two goals from oblivion - that is a small plus we can take from the game."We were truly beat at that time so I can only commend the spirit of our team to keep going right until the end."The Hibs boss felt the match could have turned out differently had striker Colin Nish been able to net before the Dons broke the deadlock.He added: "Big Colin was apologising at half-time as though what he did was a crime but I don't mind players missing as long as they are having a go."If we keep continuing to miss then it may be a problem for that player. However in the second half Colin got his goal when he looked a genuine threat that we can profit from, when the ball is in and around the box."

Source: Team_Talk