FORMER Dons boss Jimmy Calderwood thanked the Pittodrie crowd for the reception he received at his old stomping ground yesterday.
However Calderwood, who left Aberdeen in May last year, did not have a winning return after a moment of brilliance from Derek Young four minutes after the break sealed a 1-0 victory for the Dons.
Calderwood said: "I have to thank the Aberdeen fans. You get a bit sentimental and a lump in your throat. It was a fabulous reception and I didn't expect it to be that good.
"It cements the wonderful five years we had here and the wonderful city it is. Although there were a few games where the reception I got was a bit different!"
The Kilmarnock boss thought his side were unfortunate to leave the Granite City without anything to show for their efforts.
He said: "That was probably the best we have been on the ball. We haven't had too much time to work with them because of the midweek games. The first goal was always going to be vital, which they got through a wonderful strike from Derek.
"After that I thought it was one-way traffic and they were hanging on at the end but we didn't get that wee bit of luck we needed. But that is a team that is aiming for Europe and I don't think there was too much between us."
Calderwood revealed that striker Kevin Kyle, who started on the bench, will not remain as captain of the club after finding the role an added burden.
The striker this week ironed out his differences with Michael Johnston following public criticism over the chairman's policies and conduct.
The Kilmarnock boss said: "I told the chairman last week that we need to get this sorted and get him playing to his potential because he was poor last week.
"He said the captaincy was a hindrance to him so we got that out of the way and then he had the meeting with the chairman and he was back playing with a smile on his face on Thursday and Friday. It was too late for him though as he was dropped by then. But the captaincy thing was his decision."
Aberdeen boss Mark McGhee said he was delighted to see Derek Young back to scoring ways. The last time the midfielder scored was against Rangers back in August 2008.
He said: "Derek was someone who wasn't in the team for a long, long time and he has waited to get in there. He has done a great job at right-back and we had a decision to make because with Gary McDonald coming back we had to leave someone out.
"Peter Pawlett hadn't trained all week and seemed the obvious choice with Derek pushing into midfield and Richard Foster dropping into right-back. We made the decision because he has worked so hard and played so well since he has been in the team and he carried that on today."
McGhee believed his side merited all three points in a scrappy match where goalmouth action was at a premium.
He added: "I thought the performance today was good. We tried to play from the back and to a large extent it was successful. We created a couple of chances in the first half through passing the ball about. We passed the ball about pretty well in the second half and we are satisfied with the performance."
Source: Team Talk
Source: Team Talk