Aberdeen: Mark Reynolds sorry for loss in Luxembourg

Aberdeen toiled on a warm Thursday evening in Luxembourg

Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds has apologised to the club's fans after their embarrassing defeat to part-time Luxembourg side Fola Esch on Thursday.

The Dons progressed to the second qualifying round of the Europa League thanks to a 3-2 aggregate win, with two injury-time goals in the first leg.

However, Reynolds accepts major failings were exposed away from home.

"It's probably the worst we've been in a long time, if not the worst since I've been here," he told BBC Scotland.

"It's disappointing and the only positive is that we're through to the next round. We can only apologise and make sure that it doesn't happen again.

"If I knew that [what went wrong] I'd be a genius, I wouldn't be playing, I'd be managing, but it's just one of these things, it happens in football.

"If you could put your finger on why things like that go wrong then it would be so easy to fix and easier to prevent.

"There's loads of reasons, but ultimately we just didn't turn up."

Dons look for positive response

Reynolds accepts that the team will have to address the issues that were so clear in the Luxembourg heat quickly when they face Ventspils in the next stage.

The Latvians visit Pittodrie for the first leg on 14 August.

"We'll need to step up massively for the next round and I think we will," he added.

"We've got the quality of player here and are we're used to this sort of pressure.

"The manager's been building a team over the last few years and he's brought more quality in to add to that.

"I think if we can use this as a stepping stone for the rest of the season and use it as a reference point then maybe it can be turned into a positive."