Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes has praised his new look central midfield for their performance in the 1-1 draw with FC Chikhura Sachkhere in Georgia.
The midfield three of Lewis Ferguson, Funso Ojo and Craig Bryson played together for the first time in Tbilisi.
Ojo made his Dons debut in starting in the Europa League second qualifying round first leg tie, having missed the previous phase against RoPS Rovaniemi of Finland.
A £125,000 capture from Scunthorpe, Ojo had been ineligible for the RoPS games as he signed after the UEFA deadline to register players for that round.
Fellow summer signing Craig Bryson also made his long-awaited Dons debut when coming off the bench in the Georgian capital.
Bryson had missed the two games against RoPS and three pre-season friendlies with an ankle ligament injury sustained at former club Derby County.
Scotland international Bryson was named on the bench, but was introduced after just 18 minutes for defender Ash Taylor, who suffered a hamstring injury.
McInnes was impressed with the midfielders.
He said: “Ojo, Bryson and Ferguson were very strong in the middle for us in Georgia.
“Due to that Chikhura had their hands full in there (midfield) and we were allowed to get that pass into Sam Cosgrove who linked up the play well. That allowed us to build up attacks and play a lot of the game in Chikhura’s half.”
Ojo, who played for the entire 90 minutes in Tbilisi, is set to retain his starting spot against the Georgians in the return leg at Pittodrie on Thursday.
Bryson is also moving closer to being in contention to start.
McInnes said: “I thought Ojo would be able to do 60 minutes, maybe 75 in Georgia and he did really well.
“Bryson came on earlier than we would have expected, but he used his experience throughout the night.”
Aberdeen face a defensive crisis for Thursday’s clash as centre-backs Ash Taylor and Mikey Devlin are both ruled out with hamstring injuries.
Left-back Greg Leigh faces a fitness battle to recover from an ankle injury sustained in a pre-season friendly that has ruled the summer signing out of all three Euro ties so far.
As the Dons face a defensive injury problem, the club are also braced for further bids for centre-back Scott McKenna.
Aberdeen rejected bids of around £3 million from Championship outfits QPR and Nottingham Forest.
It is understood Forest will come in with an improved offer for the 22-year-old, who was the subject of a rejected £6.5m bid from Aston Villa last summer.
Aberdeen value McKenna at £10m and an approach before Thursday’s tie would not be welcome.
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