Derek McInnes staying grounded as Aberdeen move level on points with Celtic

Posted Sunday, December 20, 2020 by PA

Derek McInnes refused to get carried away after Aberdeen moved level on points with Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.

Goals from Ryan Hedges and Sam Cosgrove handed the Dons a deserved 2-0 victory against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, where they remain undefeated in nine years.

Aberdeen have kept consecutive clean sheets to move onto 34 points alongside Celtic, who have two games in hand, but McInnes wants his side to build on their form.

He said: “First and foremost you never get too obsessed with the league table, but we’re in mid-December now and it’s pleasing to be up there. But I’ve always said we’ve got it all to do.

“We’ve got four games between now and January 2 and if we can maintain the numbers we’re getting we’re on course to have a good season.

“If we can have a good January and be stronger coming out of it than we are going into it we’ll see how we go. Four goals and two clean sheets is pleasing.”

Hedges was Aberdeen’s liveliest player all afternoon and fired them ahead after 52 minutes when his deflected strike looped past goalkeeper Danny Rogers.

The Dons doubled their advantage with the last kick of the game when Sam Cosgrove fired home a low free-kick from the edge of the box after Brandon Haunstrup was sent off for dragging the striker down.

One concern for Aberdeen as they head back north will be a hamstring injury to Tommie Hoban, and McInnes provided an update on Aberdeen’s defensive options.

He added: “It doesn’t help us that we lost Tommie Hoban at half-time after he felt his hamstring. We sold Scott McKenna before the window closed then brought in Greg Leigh who is out and Mikey Devlin who has just had his operation.

“Losing another in Tommie is the last thing we need, especially as we’ll be without Ross McCrorie on Boxing Day. Maybe I’ll get a centre-half for Christmas.”

Kilmarnock have a crucial run of five fixtures ahead in a busy period where they face sides around them in the league and boss Alex Dyer admitted they need to turn things around.

Dyer said: “It’s a big run coming up, we need to pick up points in these games. If we don’t we are in trouble.

“If we do pick up results then we can turn our season around a little bit. I’m confident we can get a good run out of these games, I’m sure we will have enough.”