Aberdeen defender Andy Considine hopes patience can pay off when the Dons continue on their European adventure in Iceland.
Considine believes a measured approach to their football under Stephen Glass is paying dividends after beginning their season with a comfortable Europa Conference League win over BK Hacken and a 2-0 league triumph against Dundee United.
Ahead of the first leg of the third qualifying round against Breidablik in Iceland on Thursday, Considine said: “We have worked really hard during pre-season and a lot of what we have worked on in the training pitch is slowly coming together on a matchday.
“I feel we are a lot more patient on the pitch at the moment, maybe not forcing as much going forward, just waiting for spaces and gaps to open up and using our pace to exploit that up the top.
“It’s great to have that number nine leading the line and strikers feed off confidence and Christian (Ramirez) has managed to get two great goals, which will help him.
“There’s a really good feeling in the squad, we have a really good balance of youth and experience.”
Considine has needed to show patience in his pursuit of group stage football too.
The Dons are taking part in their eighth consecutive European campaign but have yet to emulate their success in reaching the group stages 14 seasons ago. Considine was part of the squad that reached the last 32 of the UEFA Cup and drew with Bayern Munich at Pittodrie before going out.
Aberdeen only had to navigate one qualifier in those days and Considine is aiming to learn from a succession of near misses.
“Obviously I was lucky to have a taste of it back in 2007-08 and it did absolute wonders for fans, the city, everyone involved,” the 34-year-old said. “I would love to have that feeling again.
“Obviously we have Scott Brown in the team and he has played European football for many a year and he knows how amazing these European nights are.
“We would love to get to the group stages. We know how tough it’s going to be, this tie on Thursday night is a real tough one, and we know what’s coming after that if we were to get through.
“So it’s not going to be easy but you have to ride your luck at the same time and if we have a little bit of luck on our side and play as well as we can, and have the strongest 11 we can get on the park, hopefully we can get in the group stages. But all of our minds are on Thursday.”
A contest with Limassol or Qarabag of Azerbaijan awaits in the play-offs if Aberdeen can get through their latest challenge. The Dons lost 3-2 on aggregate to the Cypriots four years ago.
“When I look at European games, it kind of reminds me of playing against Rangers or Celtic,” Considine said. “You only maybe get half a dozen chances, if that, and you need to take them, you need to be clinical.
“You need to be watertight as a team, watertight at the back, but you need to take your chances.
“Over the years we have come very close, reached the third round of qualifying a number of times, but we have maybe lost out by a goal or two and created a number of chances and not taken them.”
