Nicky Devlin takes positives from Aberdeen’s narrow Europa League defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk

Nicky Devlin believes beleaguered Aberdeen gave their frustrated supporters a glimpse of their potential in Thursday’s 3-2 Conference League defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Dons have come under heavy fire for a dismal start to their Premiership campaign in which they have taken just one point and failed to score a goal in their six matches.

But Jimmy Thelin’s team went some way to building bridges with their fans as they were applauded off following a spirited display against the assured Ukrainians.

“Ultimately we got beat, so it was a bit of a disappointment, but I think for large spells the performance was better against a very good side,” said full-back Devlin, who scored the Reds’ second goal. “There were definitely positives to take from it.

“Obviously there’s a chance (at 3-1) that you maybe go and concede four, five, six, with the way it’s gone for us so far this season, so there was a lot of character shown and you could see at the end the reaction we got off the supporters. That shows you maybe everything you need to know about how much they probably appreciated the effort.

“Ever since I’ve been here, if you give the supporters something to get behind, then they’ll get behind you.

“But it’s not up to them to get us going, we have to give the supporters something to get behind. If we’re not putting performances in, then it’s hard to expect them to keep getting behind the team every time we go out and play.

“We have to give them something to cheer and get behind us, and I felt like we did that.”

Devlin knows any positivity generated by Thursday’s performance will swiftly disappear if Aberdeen do not notch their first league win at home to Dundee on Sunday.

“It’s nice to put in a good performance, but ultimately you don’t get any points, so we have to improve on that,” he said.

“We have to win on Sunday, it’s as simple as that. None of this means anything if you can’t go and win on Sunday. If you want to be back in Europe, you have to win games like Sunday.

“We’ve had six games and we’ve not won in the league, so it’s as simple as we have to go and win.

“We’re at home, we want to make sure that our record starts to improve here because we’ve given away too many points here already this season, so, ultimately, Sunday, all that matters is going and winning.”