Ryan Hedges after Rangers defeat – One result does not make Aberdeen a bad team

Attacker Ryan Hedges has called for perspective after the heavy loss at Rangers, insisting one bad result does not make the Dons a bad team.

Aberdeen were unbeaten on the road in the Premiership for the entirety of 2020 – but that impressive run came to a grinding halt at Ibrox.

Hedges points to the mitigating factor of eight first-team players being ruled out for the clash with the undefeated Premiership leaders.

None of those eight absentees will return for tomorrow night’s clash away to Hamilton in the Premiership.

However, Welsh international Hedges, 25, is determined the Dons immediately recover by seeing off bottom side Hamilton.

He said: “One result doesn’t make you a good or a bad team. Over the season we have done pretty well. We have put in some good performances.

“Over the 90 minutes we didn’t have that performance on Sunday, but there were things that were working well.

“There are things we need to do better and Hamilton away is the perfect opportunity.

“Having a quick turnaround before the next game is the best thing for us as we won’t be dwelling on this. We will look at the things we have done well and things we haven’t done well. We will look at what we can improve and hopefully put that right tomorrow.”

Prior to the defeat at Ibrox the Dons, sitting in third spot in the Premiership, had enjoyed their second-best start to a season in 20 years.

Hedges is confident losing to Rangers will not dent confidence or derail momentum.

Aberdeen have suffered bigger setbacks this season already, such as having eight players self-isolating after attending a busy city bar in the aftermath of the 1-0 loss to Rangers on August 1.

The Dons had three games postponed because of the coronavirus breach, with one of those rescheduled games taking place tomorrow night.

They rallied from that setback to elevate themselves into the European qualification spots.

Hedges said: “We are one big squad, fighting for the same cause and heading in the right direction.

“Hopefully that will be evident over the next couple of weeks.”

The unity of the squad was underlined by the way they rallied together behind Ross McCrorie, Lewis Ferguson and Connor McLennan, who were caught up in the Scotland U21 Covid-19 chaos.

Midfielder McCrorie tested positive having returned from international duty with the U21s at Euro qualifiers against Greece and Croatia.

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Pittodrie team-mates Ferguson and McLennan were both in the same squad, but tested negative. However, they were subsequently ruled out as they have to self-isolate having been a close contact to a positive test.

Boss Derek McInnes slated the SFA’s Covid-19 protocol for international meetings.

It was a further setback for a team already minus six players for the match against a Rangers side unbeaten in 20 games this season in all competitions.

Hedges revealed although the trio couldn’t be with the team in body, they were there in spirit.

He explained: “We had a little FaceTime with them on the coach down on Friday.

“You can see the togetherness of the squad. It was very disappointing, especially as it happened outwith Aberdeen’s control.

“At the moment, these things happen. We just have to try to keep moving forward.”

Aberdeen fell behind at Ibrox to a Ryan Kent goal after 15 minutes, then conceded further through Kemar Roofe to make it 2-0 at the break. Scott Arfield made it three soon after the break before James Tavernier netted a penalty.

Hedges, Aberdeen’s top performer at Ibrox, said: “It was obviously a disappointing result.

“We can take a few positives out of the game. In spells, we were the better team.

“The second goal came against the run of play, but we can’t start the second half the way we did and expect to get something out of it.”