Ojo on Aberdeen debut penalty blow: I was so surprised when referee blew the whistle

New signing Funso Ojo feared a dodgy refereeing decision in Tbilisi would wreck his Aberdeen debut.

The 27-year-old Belgian was left stunned when a penalty was awarded against him in the first half of the 1-1 draw with FC Chikhura Sachkhere.

Ojo insists he did not touch Irakli Lekvtadze and expected the ref to book the Georgian for diving.

Instead he was shocked when Romanian whistler Horatiu Mircea Fesnic pointed to the spot.

It was an early blow for the Dons as the Georgians converted the spot-kick to go 1-0 up.

Despite that setback, Ojo was always confident his new side would emerge from the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena with a positive result.

He said: “I didn’t touch him at all. There was nothing, not my arms or my foot.

“I think he expected me to sweep with my right foot, but I didn’t.

“I watched the penalty incident back and it was not a penalty.

“I was so surprised when the referee blew the whistle as I thought surely he is going to give him a yellow for a dive.

“When he pointed at the penalty spot, I was so surprised.

“We could have got a win. After that penalty we still dominated the game.

“Overall, with the away goal and 1-1 – we will take that.”

The contentious penalty, which was converted by Giorgi Koripadze, came towards the end of the first half.

It was the second blow in Georgia as defender Ash Taylor limped off after just 18 minutes with a hamstring injury.

But Ojo was always confident the Dons would fly out of Tbilisi with control of the tie. Striker Sam Cosgrove netted a penalty in the second half, awarded for hand ball.

Aberdeen face Chikhura in the return leg at Pittodrie on Thursday, and up for grabs is a clash against HNK Rijeka of Croatia in the third qualifying round.

Ojo said: “In a game you know things like that (the penalty) can happen.

“I just thought that because it wasn’t a penalty we would go and correct it.

“We were dominating the game and I knew we were going to get off the pitch with a good result.”

Ojo was pitched straight in from the start for his debut, having signed from Scunthorpe in a £125,000 deal.

Aberdeen beat Premiership rivals Hibs to the signature of the former PSV Eindhoven midfielder.

Ojo held talks with Hibs boss Paul Heckingbottom just days before travelling up to the Granite City for discussions with Dons boss Derek McInnes.

Ultimately McInnes’ sales pitch convinced the former Belgian Under-21 international to commit to the Dons on a three-year contract.

Ojo missed the first qualifying round defeat of RoPS Rovaniemi of Finland because he was signed after the UEFA deadline to register players. He was delighted to get a full 90 minutes of action.

Ojo said: “I was happy to play and initially the plan was I would play 60 minutes, but I got 90 in. I managed to get in that extra time and we also got a decent result.”

Ojo experienced European action during his time at Dutch side PSV. The midfielder admits playing at that level was a factor in signing for the Dons.

He said: “I have played in Europe before and it is something I wanted to do again.

“So it was a big factor in signing for Aberdeen.”

Former Beerschot, Royal Antwerp, FC Dordrecht and Willem II player Ojo operated in midfield alongside Lewis Ferguson and fellow summer signing Craig Bryson for most of the game. Scotland international Bryson was named on the bench having recovered from an ankle ligament injury sustained at his former club Derby County at the end of last season.

He made his debut earlier than anticipated when Taylor was taken off.

Ojo said: “I am looking forward to playing with them (Bryson and Ferguson).

“This was our first game together and it is just a case of getting to know one another.”