Stephen Glass: Aberdeen are going to Iceland to win

Stephen Glass insists Aberdeen will aim for more than just a clean sheet when they tackle Breidablik on Thursday night.

The Dons take on the Icelandic side in the national stadium in Reykjavik in the first leg of the Europa Conference League third qualifying round.

Fresh from an encouraging 2-0 win over Dundee United in their Premiership opener at Pittodrie on Sunday, and having beaten Swedish side Hacken 5-3 on aggregate in the previous round, boss Glass told Aberdeen’s website of his intent to go for the win.

He said: “Whenever you go away in Europe it’s never easy. You know you will be facing a good team.

“They were able to beat a traditionally big club in Austria Wien in the last round, so we know they’re a dangerous side.

“It’s going to be a challenge but the target is the same as every game we go into – we are looking to try to win the game.

“We’re not here to try and defend and try to hang onto a 0-0, we’re here to win, the same way we approach everything and that’s the best way for us to approach things. That’s our aim.

“How that pans out on the night, we’ll have to wait and see, it might finish 0-0 and we might think that’s okay on the way home.

“But that’s not our aim, that’s not how we are approaching the game.

“We’ve done our homework, our planning and our preparation and we think we are ready.

“We feel if we do what we are looking to do and play well, then we’ll be good enough to go through but I’m sure the team sitting in the other dressing room will feel the same about themselves.”

Glass has left Matty Kennedy back in Scotland to try to recover from a sore back but Funso Ojo, injured against United at the weekend, has travelled as has Ryan Hedges, who missed the match on Sunday with an ankle knock. The Aberdeen boss is hopeful they will be declared fit.

Breidablik are 14 games into their domestic season now, but Glass is not unduly concerned.

He said: “They’ve played more games than we have, but so had Hacken, so I don’t think it’s relevant.

“We prepared well in pre-season, the players are in good shape, the mood is good after the Dundee United game.

“We’re always looking to get better but we feel we are moving in the right direction and we aim to continue that on Thursday.

“We’re three games deep into things, we know there is more to come from all areas of the team.

“Christian (Ramirez) and Jet (Jay Emmanuel-Thomas) are working well together for example, they’ve made themselves popular with the supporters who can see how hard they’re working for each other and the team.

“But we know that the more opportunities they get to work with each other in training and games, the more we’ll see from them.”