Burnley 3 Aberdeen 1: No reward for Derek McInnes' men, but they did themselves proud

Beaten and yet brilliant, this extra-time defeat wold have hurt like hell; however, Derek McInnes’s men were outstanding, truly heroic, over both legs and especially at Turf Moor.

That they lost is far from unimportant but this felt like more than just a game; that the result wasn’t the only thing up for grabs, but that Scottish football’s self-respect to an extent rested on how this wee Scottish team did against the seventh best side from the ‘greatest league in the world.’

They did us all proud. Especially their own kind. And it was some game of football from first to last.

My goodness but those Aberdeen fans were loud. Alas for them, it took only six minutes for Burnley to press the mute button.

The home side’s goal came from an Aberdeen throw-in. Graeme Shinnie was too easily pushed off the ball by Ashley Westwood in midfield and his long ball over the top of Aberdeen’s defence gave Chris Wood something to chase.

Woods got there first, Joe Lewis came out of his goal, but the Burnley striker did superbly well to keep his head, get the ball on to his left foot and strike a shot which rocketed in to the roof of Aberdeen’s net.

Now we would find out what Aberdeen had in terms of character and, bit by bit, the Dons got back into it and created and missed a good chance on 22 minutes.

Space opened up on the left where Andrew Considine lurked, his cross was missed by friend and foe alike, and the ball dropped to Gary Mackay-Steven whose shot was blocked.

But the next opportunity was taken five minutes later and what a goal it was.

A Mackay-Steven corner was returned to the winger, and his stepover was good enough to then get his cross past Matthew Lowdon, Wood made a hash of clearing the ball out of the box and Lewis Ferguson, an 18-year-old, scored an over-head kick on the volley in a European match.

It was his very first goal in senior football. Moments like that make football so great. The visitors to Lancashire went absolutely bonkers and stayed that way for most of the night.

Now we had a contest. Considine wasn’t so far away with a 38th minute header, from another Mackay-Steven cross. This change in the game’s tone a reminder to the role confidence plays in football. Or to be more precise footballers.

The half ended superbly and controversially.

Another Burnley long ball produced a 50/50 between Scott McKenna and Wood. The Burnley striker seemed to win the race, the Aberdeen defender fell to the ground, quickly followed by the New Zealander, who was being physical but had his shirt pulled.

A free-kick was given to Aberdeen. It could so easily have gone the other way and a red card for McKenna.

Then at the other end, Shinnie’s shot along the grass was saved by Anders Lindegaard, and from the corner, which against Burnley couldn’t deal with, Ferguson’s net-bound header was blocked.

The break gave us all a chance to catch our breath. Temporarily.

The second-half was two minutes old when Lewis superbly, and with his fingertips, pushed a Johann Berg Gudmundsson past the post.

Shinnie should have scored on 65 minutes. The tenacious Niall McGinn kept the ball in on the left touchline, picked out his captain just outside the box and free, but his shot was poor.

Aberdeen keeper Lewis then produced a wonder save to keep out Ashley Barnes’s rocket from 10 yards, much to the striker’s disbelief.

Next up was two great saves, one from Lindegaard to keep out Shinnie, and a quite super touch from Lewis who somehow tipped a Sam Vokes header onto the inside of the bar.

It was wonderful stuff. And what all of this meant was the tie was going to extra-time. Both teams gave everything when they had next to nothing left. And then it happened. On 11 minutes of added time, Charlie Taylor crossed, Jack Cork connected with the forehead, and the dream was over.

Burnley sealed it when the ball came off McKenna’s arm, a penalty was given, and Barnes converted. The winners knew how far they had been pushed.