ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes praised his team’s fighting attitude after they survived a second-half scare to defeat Rijeka.

Leading 3-0 from the first leg in Croatia, the Dons saw their large advantage shrunk down to just a slender single-goal lead at Pittodrie in a frantic five-minute period where their Europa League qualifying opponents struck twice.

However, crisis was soon averted for the Dons in front of almost 16,000 home fans when Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes steadied the red ship to claim a 2-2 draw on the night, meaning Aberdeen progress 5-2 on aggregate to face a trip Kazakhstan to play Kairat Almaty next week.

McInnes said: “We always knew if we scored what they would require would be too much and at half-time we were pleased with what the players had given us.

“No-one will test our discipline domestically like that and their movement and swiftness of their play was excellent.

“They really tested us, but we handled it excellently and created enough chances. Our supporters were excellent and understood the significance of the game, but no match is ever over when you play a team of that quality.

“I’ve talked a lot about quality and tactics, but McGinn’s goal was quality and to score five goals through five different scorers against that team speaks volumes.”

Aberdeen spurned several chances before eventually falling behind. McGinn fired just over early on before Hayes’ fine cross just eluded Kenny McLean at the back post.

Ash Taylor headed just wide of the post from an early second-half corner, but they were soon made to pay by a resurgent Rijeka who struck against the run of play as Marin Tomasov was allowed space to manoeuvre forward to calmly drill a low shot under Danny Ward.

Seconds later Hayes spurned a glorious free header at the back post with the goal gaping only for Rijeka substitute Zoran Kvrzic to send a 30-yard deflected screamer over the top of Ward with help of a deflection and into the net just moments later to put the visitors 2-0 up on the night.

The next goal was always going to be crucial and it thankfully arrived immediately for Aberdeen. A neat ball on the right played McGinn into the box and the Northern Irishman set himself to drill a low shot across Simon Sluga and into the far corner off the post.

And on 71 minutes they found the killer goal they ultimately deserved on the night with lone striker David Goodwillie racing into the box before cutting back for Hayes to prod home.

"We congratulate Aberdeen,” said Rijeka manager Matjaz Kek, who is clearly a man of few words given his post-match press conference lasted all of eight seconds before he stormed out. “We wish them all the best.”

Turning his attention to next week’s trip to Kazakhstan, McInnes added: “I’ve got three games to watch and we’ll have them watched on Sunday.

“They’ve got their last game on Sunday before the split and have only lost 13 goals in the league this season.

“They don’t find goals hard to come by either and it will be a tough ask but we expect that at this stage.

“But they will know they are getting a tough team at this stage of the competition, too.”