Aberdeen were held to a frustrating goalless draw by Dnipro in the first leg of their Uefa Cup first round tie at Pittodrie.
Dons draw a blank on return to Europe
Aberdeen were held to a frustrating goalless draw by Dnipro in the first leg of their Uefa Cup first round tie at Pittodrie.
Two great saves denied Aberdeen victory as Andrew Considine and Chris Clark saw shots beaten away by Vyacheslav Kernozenko early in either half of the clash.
The Ukrainian side had their moments, mostly from long range, and the Dons failed to capitalise on a period of sustained pressure after the interval.
The home side were denied the opener after just four minutes when Jamie Smith, who started up front, headed down Scott Severin's free-kick and Considine's close-range strike was brilliantly beaten away by Kernozenko.
The visitors soon settled in possession and Sergey Samodin pulled a shot wide after a flick-on by Andriy Vorobey.
Challenge
Considine saved the Dons with a brilliant penalty-box challenge on Samodin after Kostyantyn Kravchenko had lifted a superb ball over the top. And the visitors came close when Nazarenko twice curled inches over from 20 yards.
Jamie Langfield had his first serious test seconds after the restart when he pushed over Kravchenko's powerful long-range strike.
Save
Moments later, Chris Clark came close to breaking the deadlock with a brilliant piece of play that was matched by Kernozenko's save.
The left midfielder cut inside two defenders and curled a shot towards the far corner from 20 yards - but the Dnipro keeper pushed his effort on to the post.
Aberdeen had the impetus and Diamond won the ball from Severin's free-kick but could not direct his header towards goal.
Aberdeen were looking to get the ball into the box at every opportunity and Derek Young had a shot deflected wide before Diamond headed over from the corner.
Clark had a great chance after Denys Andriyenko slipped in possession on the edge of his box but the wide man's shot flashed well wide with the aid of a deflection.
Dnipro substitute Jaba Kankava threatened next after Nazarenko's cut-back, but Langfield dived low to his right to divert the measured shot past the post.
The Dons will have their work cut out to make the group stages against a side that beat Hibernian 5-1 after a goalless draw at Easter Road two years ago.
