Aberdeen of Scotland’s Nigerian-born lad, Funsho Ojo has received accolades from the Scottish Premiership club’s coach, Stephen Glass, following his spirited efforts as a substitute in The Dons’ UEFA Europa Conference League fixture, megasportsarena.com reports.
In the wake of Aberdeen’s victory on Thursday night, Glass praised Ojo for his contributions to the success, despite only entering the game after half-time, but the gaffer stayed modest about his part in the tactical change that ultimately saw The Dons moved into the next stage.
The win marked the first time the club had got beyond the third qualifying round of a European competition since they reached the group stage of the UEFA Cup in 2007, and they now face a trip to Azerbaijan next Thursday, ahead of which the coach was beaming with delight.
They will next to face Qarabag in the play-off round, after the half-time introduction of Ojo and Connor McLennan as well as a change of formation proved key for Glass, as the Nigerian-born lad was involved in both goals scored by Ryan Hedges.
Those goals came either side of Gisli Eyjolfsson’s curling strike for the visitors, as The Dons went onto win 2-1 on the night and progressed to the next round 5-3 on aggregate, much to the delight of the gaffer, who singled out Ojo for commendation.
Glass submitted: “Funso, when he came on at half-time, his energy, his quality, his pace were excellent. The crowd responded and backed us – it was a different atmosphere altogether and it needed to change.
“The change of shape helped Ryan. He’s disappointed he’s not scored three or four goals, but he’s done his work for the team as well. Anything we do as a group will be as a group.
“If you sit on your hands and you doubt your judgment then you can find yourself in trouble. The players coming off didn’t come off because of their performance. They came off because of what we needed on the pitch for the team.
“The players understand that and they respond right. We have to make decisions as a staff and it’s me who has to pull the trigger. That’s why I’m here. I’m happy to be in the next round. We produced the goods on the pitch. We were not at our best, but we’re in the next round.
“We’ll leave a day earlier, we’ll go there to compete and keep it alive and then a Thursday night here under the lights – you’ll see an Aberdeen team really determined to make the group stages.
