Aberdeen 0-0 Ross County: Pressure still on Jim Goodwin after draw
- Published
Aberdeen's Vicente Besuijen has a late chance saved
Jim Goodwin is "not concerned in the slightest" about the pressure on him after Aberdeen's Scottish Premiership goalless draw with Ross County extended their winless run to five games.
Despite a largely dominant display they could not unlock bottom-of-the-table County at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen remain in fourth, but fall five points behind Hearts in the race for third having played a game more.
"It's certainly not a time to panic," Goodwin told BBC Scotland.
After four straight defeats Goodwin has ended that run, but it is now just one win in seven games.
"Supporters at every club have the right to voice their opinions," he added.
"I thought against Kilmarnock it was as poor as we've been but I can take positives from the other games."
For County, the draw ends a sequence of four straight defeats of their own, but they are now three points adrift at the bottom.
Christian Ramirez's return to the starting line-up for the first time since July signalled perhaps a last roll of the dice from Goodwin as he attempted to arrest a poor run of form.
Lining up alongside Bojan Miovski and Luis Lopes, Aberdeen certainly had the firepower, and they took the game to their visitors at a frantic pace.
Matthew Kennedy's close-range shot was cleared off the line by Alex Iacovitti, but County got to half-time unscathed with goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw having relatively little to do despite the pressure.
After the break the game followed a similar pattern. The Dons' best opportunity arrived when substitutes Jonny Hayes and Besuijen combined, but the latter could only knock the ball harmlessly towards Laidlaw, much to the frustration of the home support.
For County, it is a first clean sheet away from home since September and that will be the positive for them. However, it is a third game without a goal and they rarely looked like breaching the Dons defence.
Player of the match - Ross McCrorie
So often deployed in either defence of as a deep lying midfielder, Ross McCrorie was given the freedom to roam the park at full-back and was a constant problem for Ross County
Goodwin still searching for solution to Aberdeen ills - analysis
It was a game that Aberdeen needed to win, both to get the fans back onside after four straight losses, and to ensure they did not fall further behind Hearts in the battle for third place. They did neither.
Goodwin did shake things up. Ramirez's start raised eyebrows as the American striker has been out of favour since the beginning of the Premiership season. A back five was changed to a flat back four with McCrorie at right-back. The usually undroppable Connor Barron was benched.
Yet the same problems remained. Aberdeen had more possession than in recent weeks but the end product was not there, and Goodwin looked despondent at the end as he was left pondering what he can do to reverse the slump.
It's been a testing few weeks for County manager Malky MacKay. The midweek defeat by Dundee United left his side at the bottom of the table, and United's subsequent late goal away to St Johnstone opened up a three-point gap.
Defensively they withstood what Aberdeen could throw at them, save for a few nervy moments. At the other end they offered half chances, but they will feel they could have tested Aberdeen's leaky defence more.
What did the managers say?
Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin: "It was clear we lacked a bit of quality and composure when we did get into the final third.
"It's disappointing not to win, but coming in off the back of four straight defeats it was important that we put a stop to that run we were on."
Ross County manager Malky MacKay: "We've got to just keep believing. I think we've been in this situation many times and there's a calmness to us in terms of it's halfway, there's a lot of football to go.
"We've played everyone, some a couple of times. I think there's a really tight group of teams."
What's next?
Aberdeen are at home to St Johnstone on Saturday (15:00 GMT), with Ross County hosting Livingston at the same time.