Aberdeen and Caley Thistle Draw in Elgin

It was all-square at Borough Briggs against Caley Thistle for our second visit to Elgin and our last first team outing ahead of our Europa League Qualifier against RoPS Rovaniemi next Thursday at Pittodrie in front of a 2,149 crowd mostly made up of the Red Army.

Our longer term injuries made a partial return with both Niall McGinn and Connor McLennan featuring, whilst Craig Bryson was named on the bench, he didn’t take part in the match and looks doubtful to feature against RoPS Rovaniemi next week.

Sam Cosgrove and Ryan Hedges were both left out having suffered minor knocks but both will be fit for Thursday’s game.

Curtis Main also made a return having not taken part in the Peterhead match having had a thigh strain.

Stevie May who has been subject to a possible move away from Aberdeen back to St Johnstone, was named on the bench and featured late into the second half.

It was Inverness was suffered an early blow to this match, when Shaun Rooney was taken off injured just five minutes into the game, and replaced by Coll Donaldson.

Aberdeen had an early chance through Scott Wright, who passed to Curtis Main but chipped the ball straight at Cammy Mackay.

Dean Campbell had the next chance in the 16th minute, curling a rising shot over from 22 yards.

Connor McLennan fed through a pass to Curtis Main in the 20th minute, but Mackay blocked the striker’s 15 yard shot.

Greg Leigh suffered an ankle knock in the 21st minute and he had to come off and replaced with Andy Considine.  It looked a bad one, and Leigh struggled to put any weight on the foot when he limped off – a potential worry for Derek McInnes.

0-0 at half time, but McGinn came close in the 51st minute but put his shot over from 15 yards.

Aberdeen took the lead thanks to penalty.  Jon Gallagher was brought down in the box by Nikolay Todorov who had only just come on as a sub, and it was Curtis Main who stepped up to slot his first goal home for Aberdeen.

Not long after Caley Thistle equalised from a Tom Walsh corner, Jordan white flicked the ball towards the back post and Brad McKay converted the shot to equalise.

In injury time, Ash Taylor had a final chance for the Dons, but flashed a header wide of the far post.

Derek McInnes will be hoping that the injury to Greg Leigh is not as serious as it looked, as we look ahead to our opening European tie next Thursday.