FORMER IRELAND INTERNATIONAL Jim Goodwin insisted he was the man to turn Aberdeen’s fortunes around as he apologised for the “humiliating” 1-0 Scottish Cup exit to junior side Darvel at Recreation Park.

The West of Scotland League Premier Division champions triumphed against the odds thanks to a deflected strike by Jordan Kirkpatrick after 19 minutes of a pulsating fourth-round tie in Ayrshire.

Darvel, from the sixth tier of Scottish football, now have home tie against League One Falkirk in the next round.

Goodwin, already under pressure following the 5-0 defeat by Hearts at Tynecastle last week, has one win in nine games, but he remained defiant.

He said: “I do believe I can turn it around, absolutely. I have confidence in the squad we have got here. We are going through a very difficult period at the moment.

“We are on a poor run of form, but we have to stick together and we have to keep fighting, work hard and put on a good display at Easter Road (against Hibernian) on Saturday.

“The last two results have been extremely disappointing. To concede five against Hearts and then to come here and get turned over by a junior team is embarrassing and humiliating for everyone connected to the club and we can only apologise.

“I speak on behalf of everyone, the staff and the players. and we are extremely embarrassed by what happened tonight, although I think that is a bit disrespectful of Darvel.

“As a manager, especially a manager of a club the size of Aberdeen, you need to win games of football and our form since the return from the World Cup break hasn’t been good enough and tonight is an extremely difficult result for me to take.

“A really poor performance that lacked any urgency and any creativity at the top end of the pitch.

“We will need to do a bit of assessing later on and speak to who we need to speak to tomorrow. We will have a meeting with the players and make sure we come out fighting at Easter Road, it is as simple as that.”