Sivert Heltne Nislen explains 'crazy story' behind black eye ahead of Aberdeen clash with Hibs
Aberdeen midfielder Sivert Heltne Nislen has revealed the reason why he will go into this weekend's clash against Hibs with a black eye, and it's not come from any clashes on the pitch.
The battle-hardened midfielder has been in the wars without even heading onto the Pittodrie turf, rather an accident at his home with his son.
The Norwegian clashed heads with his boy, Bo, in an accidental collision, as he explained: "It's a crazy story actually and I don't know if you'll believe me. But I was sitting on my sofa with my son yesterday with him in front of me.
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"He just suddenly jumped backwards and hit me and actually it blew up. So of course everyone here has been saying that it was really my wife. But I can assure you that it was my son as he's a crazy guy just like me."
Aberdeen had no game last weekend and it has given Jimmy Thelin the last two weeks to work on things with his squad on the training ground. He is looking to get back to winning ways after five matches without victory, writes the Daily Record.
Thelin said: "The coaching staff has done a really job in analysing what was missing, especially in the St Johnstone game. It was really slow and we couldn’t find the solutions. We can now bring our game up to speed. I think we will see the results tomorrow."
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Nilsen still doesn’t think Aberdeen they have delivered that ultimate performance and that is something they are still striving for, as he insisted: "All of the games have been very close and my personal view is that we have had to fight for every point.
"We want to build on being a dominating team and I don't think I've gone off the field feeling were amazing or fantastic. We have always had periods in matches when the opponents have had momentum and could create something. It's about the bigger picture and finding a higher level in our play as it's all about getting better in the future as I want us to be great."
Aberdeen have already played Hibs in this recent winless run. They drew 3-3 at Easter Road last month in a bonkers clash that saw three goals in the dying minutes.
The Reds went into stoppage time 2-1 up. Chris Cadden levelled, Ester Sokler then netted an overhead kick but Rocky Bushiri levelled in the 96th minute. Nilsen admitted that the draw felt like a defeat but on reflection was, probably, a fair result.
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The midfielder acknowledged: "It was quite an equal game away. We had periods where we were good but we also had periods where we struggled. In the end, it was probably a fair result when you see the match overall.
"Hopefully, tomorrow we can put on a performance that deserves the win. There were some spaces and they changed their formation against us. That was the first time they had played with a back five. Let’s see how they come tomorrow.
"They have some individual qualities that have been good and we have to be aware of their players. Our expectation is to be the best team and to dominate. We will be looking to go forward quickly.
"It was quite tough to take losing that last goal so quickly after taking the lead late that night. We were really high after Ester scored then what happened felt like a loss. The manager did a good job afterwards to make sure we focus on the right things.
"We didn't play a very good match against Hibs and they made a number of good chances to score earlier. To be honest it was a fair result overall but it's always hard when you lose such a late goal. I've had some late losses before in my career so I know you can have these sort of crazy games in football.
"Football is really mental and knowing how to react and learn to stay in the game until the final whistle. We have actually been a little bit chaotic near the end of matches when we've scored late on. If you see the minutes after that it has been chaotic and other teams nearly scored against us during that time.
"It nearly happened against Motherwell at Pittodrie as we were all over the place and they nearly scored. It could be a lack of concentration in those moments and we can be more controlled in the future."