Aberdeen Progress in Europa League Qualifying

• pic by Jeff Holmes @jeffholmes24

Aberdeen progressed into the second qualifying round of the Europa League thanks to Niall McGinn's away goal in the first leg as the follow-up against Macedonian side FK Shkendija finished goalless at Pittodrie.

The second leg was not a pretty affair, and both sides' nerves were clearly on show as they battled through a scrappy match.

Peter Pawlett hit the crossbar but ultimately Aberdeen were left to rely on what they did last week to go through.

The Dons had looked nervous early on, allowing Shkendija winger Besart Ibraimi to impose himself, but his side's finishing left much to be desired with Blagoja Todorovski dragging his shot well wide to spurn their best early chance.

Ash Taylor's header brought a comfortable save from Marko Jovanovski, before slack play from Adam Rooney allowed the visitors a break from which Ferhan Hasani fired over.

The chances soon dried up, but as they did, Aberdeen began to look more comfortable.

After Jovanovski spilled a poor effort from Niall McGinn, the Dons won the loose ball and Graeme Shinnie forced the goalkeeper into another save.

Kenny McLean had started to provide sparks of creativity from the midfield, and he saw a shot from distance fade wide a minute from the interval.

Derek McInnes' side built on that and certainly looked the more likely to break the deadlock. A neat move involving Ashton Taylor and McLean allowed Jonny Hayes a clear sight of goal early in the second period, but perhaps Rooney was better placed to score.

Aberdeen's on-loan Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward was tested by the Macedonians when Armend Alimi's free-kick moved wickedly in the air, Ward parrying what should still have been a fairly comfortable catch.

However, it was substitute Pawlett, on for McLean, who came closest. He powered a 30-yard strike over the surprised Jovanovski which crashed off the bar, bouncing on the wrong side of the line from an Aberdeen viewpoint.

That got the Pittodrie crowd, numbering over 14,000, on their feet, and they urged their side - now including substitutes Barry Robson and David Goodwillie - towards the finish line.

With only the Dons' away goal separating the sides, the crowd understandably grew tense, not helped by a goalmouth scramble in the final minute of normal

time that saw Ibraimi completely miss his kick as he threatened to send Shkendija into the next round.

A minute later, the same player sent a low 20-yard effort fizzing towards the bottom corner, but Ward did well to push wide and earn his side their place in the second qualifying round.

Derek McInnes said: It was a very tight match. We anticipated how they would play, defending deep and in numbers, trying to feed off loose passing and counter-attacking on us. It's different to what my team are used to domestically, and we had to try to provide the answers to that.

The onus was on us to try to be as positive as we could, but Shkendija needed to score.

We didn't want to make it the type of game where we just keep possession, we wanted to be more positive, but other than the last 10 minutes of the first half we didn't keep the ball as well as we'd have liked.''

McInnes felt his side were deserving of their progress, adding: I think we deserved to go through over the two games in terms of penalty box action and opportunities, but at times we played into their barrel by playing in the wrong areas.''

Of second-round opponents Rijeka, he continued I never look too far ahead, but my staff have filled me in that they're a big side with pace and plenty of technical ability. This will be a big ask for us but one we'll look forward to nonetheless.

It's important we don't lose the tie in the first leg and we bring them back here with something to think about. We showed last year against Groningen that we're capable, but last year the first leg was at home which brings a different approach.''

FK Shkendija manager Sheptim Duro felt his side were unlucky not to progress to the next stage, saying Football is not always fair, but we felt that we deserved to go through.

It's the nature of the game. Even though we were eliminated, we were proud of what we showed in these two games, and we are proud of the team.''