Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds hopes European disappointment can be turned into motivation for a positive start to the Ladbrokes Premiership campaign.

The Pittodrie men were knocked out in the Europa League third qualifying round on Thursday night when a 2-0 defeat by Apollon Limassol in Cyprus saw the home side go through 3-2 on aggregate.

The men from the Granite City have lost four times in a row at the same stage in Europe and there was huge disappointment in the Dons camp.

Ahead of the visit of Hamilton in their Ladbrokes Premiership opener on Sunday, Reynolds was determined that some good will come from the European exit.

"We will learn from it, grow as a team and hopefully use it to kick on to the league season," he told RedTV. "We have always done well on the back of a European campaign.

"It has always dovetailed nice. We have managed to run it straight in the league.

"This is a bit closer than we would have liked, three or four days, but we have done it before. The fitness staff and the physios are well used to it and we will be as fit as we can be.

"We have some strength in depth and if the manager sees the need to do it he can freshen up the starting 11. But we will certainly be ready to go and use this to kick on in the season and try to make it our most successful yet."

Fellow Dons defender Andrew Considine knows there is little time to mull over the Europa League disappointment.

He said: "Sunday is going to be here before you know it. It is going to be an extremely tough game.

"We found Hamilton in the past to be very hard opponents. But it is the start of a new league campaign and everyone is looking forward to it."