ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes promised a buoyant Dons support that his team is more than capable of beating Maribor when the sides meet in the second leg of their Europa League qualifier next Thursday.
The home side dominated their Slovenian counterparts for large periods last night but went behind in the 83rd minute when Milivoje Novakovic stunned the home support.
But Johnny Hayes, a constant threat all night, popped up with an 88th-minute equaliser to give McInnes's men hope of progressing to the play-off round.
McInnes, pleased with Aberdeen’s refusal to accept defeat, expressed confidence that they go through.
“I have no doubt we can still win this tie,” he said. “It’s still alive for us.
“We scored in Groningen and we scored against Rijeka in previous seasons, so we can do it in Maribor.
“We caused them a lot of problems, took the game to them, rattled them and should have made more of the chances.
“The tie is still alive. We know we can get to them – and they know we can get to them.
“The scoreline will make them play the same way next week. They are compact and they will remember what they faced against us at Pittodrie.
“I’m delighted with the response of the players because it was a sore one to go behind because we’d been the better team.
“We are a bit annoyed with the goal but I’m more interested in the response.
“We never know we’re beaten, it could have been easy to write that off in the last five minutes.
“But we didn’t. The team spirit and never-say-die attitude is a magnificent thing to have.
Meanwhile, the Maribor manager Darko Milanic claimed his side were no longer favourites to go through to the group stages as he conceded the Dons would be full of confidence and will be a handful in the return leg in Slovenia next week.
"I don't accept we are favourites now,” he said. “It's going to be very difficult against Aberdeen in the next game. It was a tough match so I have to congratulate my team for the fight we showed on the pitch.
“But it will be different next week; Aberdeen won't play in the same way they played at Pittodrie.”
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