The talent of Bojan Miovski laid bare as Aberdeen FC team-mate spells out what he can still do for the club
Miovski netted his 20th goal of the season in the Reds 2-1 defeat to Rangers in Govan on Tuesday night.
Nick Devlin admits Aberdeen ace Bojan Miovski was forced to take the fight to Rangers on his own at Ibrox.
But the Dons defender believes that with the North Macedonian striker’s goals, the Pittodrie side can still lead a charge up the table. There was disappointment for new Reds boss Neil Warnock in Govan on Tuesday as the Englishman’s dugout debut ended in a narrow 2-1 defeat. There was hope at half-time, however, after Miovski’s 20th goal of the season sent the visitors in level at a goal apiece. But having gifted Rabbi Matondo the opener, keeper Kelle Roos spilled another shot at Todd Cantwell’s feet and watched as the Englishman fired home to ensure Rangers finally registered a league win over Aberdeen at the third attempt this term.
It was another bitter blow for a Dons team that have now gone five games without a win. Warnock has been tasked with drawing up a battle plan to at least get Aberdeen back into the top six. And Devlin is confident they can do just that with top gun Miovski spearheading the attack.
“He is obviously the main man in our team,” said the right-back. “He has thrived off that this season. I don’t think we really created too much for him against Rangers. He almost found a way himself to score a goal for us and get us back in the game.
“He is massively important for us. I’ve said before he is the best player in the league in his position. Bojan has been excellent for us. He has scored 20 goals for us already this season. If he can score another 10 I am sure we will probably be in a good place.”
Dons chief Dave Cormack has ordered a full review of Aberdeen’s behind-the-scenes operations as he looks to avoid a repeat of the mistakes that have now led to three failed managerial appointments. In the meantime, Warnock has been brought in to replace Barry Robson and attempt to lift sagging spirits.
The former Sheffield United, Leeds and QPR boss only had the luxury of one training session before making the long journey down to Glasgow on Tuesday night. But Devlin is confident the 75-year-old’s huge reserves of experience can inspire a turn around in the Reds’ fortunes.
He said: “The new manager’s been good. We have obviously not been able to work with him too much. He was only in for one day before the game. Over the coming days and weeks he will maybe get his points across to us a bit more and we will get a bit more time on the training ground with him.
“The reaction to him coming in was probably excitement for most of us to be fair. Everyone knows exactly who he is because he’s had a fantastic career managing down the road. We have got a lot of younger boys in the squad and in terms of experience you don’t get much more experienced than him.
“I am sure there is a lot we can learn off him. We know he is going to be here until the end of the season. The dressing room is in a good place, it is very clear to us he is the manager until the end of the season. That helps us as well.
“Before the match he told us to win, to do whatever it takes to try to win the game. At half-time he told us we need to hang in a little bit. We were obviously coming under pressure in the first half. We weren’t too defensive, but we let Rangers come on to us too much.
“We weren’t competitive enough higher up the pitch to put them under pressure. He wanted a wee bit more of that and we did that in the second half and created a bit more. But I am sure in the coming days he will start to get his points across.”
Warnock will meet the Red Army for the first time on Saturday as the Dons host Bonnyrigg Rose in the Scottish Cup. And Devlin hopes the fifth round encounter will leave the supporters will positive first impressions.
He said: “Probably over the course of the season our problem has been consistency. We have shown in a lot of games, especially European games, that we can compete really well.
“But we have come back to league business and not been good enough. That has probably been a problem for us all season. But we have a run of home games including the cup game on Saturday and we have to start winning. Hopefully we will do that with Bonnyrigg on Saturday.”