WAIT AND GLEE
Del: Fans will see how good Hernandez and Dylan are if they show patience
DEREK McINNES has urged for patience as Aberdeen work to get ring-rusty Ronald Hernandez and Dylan McGeouch up to speed.
The Dons booked a Scottish Cup semi-final place with their weekend win at St Mirren but turn their attention back to Premiership when they make the trip to Kilmarnock tomorrow.
McInnes strengthened his squad in January by snapping up Venezuela full-back Hernandez, midfielder McGeouch and winger Matty Kennedy.
But while Kennedy was a first-team regular at St Johnstone, McGeouch struggled for game time at Sunderland and Hernandez hadn’t played regularly since his last club Stabaek finished their campaign in Norway back in December.
So boss McInnes knows they need time to get match sharp.
He said: “Hernandez played 90 minutes for the reserves last week. We said when we signed him that he hadn’t played 90 minutes since November.
“He had played 45 minutes of a pre-season game in January. Although he’d been training with Stabaek, he didn’t have that match sharpness.
“Trying to tailor his training when there has been midweek games has been difficult.
“We were keen for him to get 90 minutes last week and he did well in a winning performance to get the club (reserves) into another final.
“Like any player getting back into the swing of things, it’s about getting that match sharpness.
“Because games have been coming thick and fast, and because of the importance of them, it’s hard to throw him in.”
Hernandez had a difficult debut in the 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone but McInnes insists he will become a key player.
The manager said: “What we’re seeing in training is what we thought we were getting.
“He’s a really bright, positive, enthusiastic and willing full-back who’s got good tenacity in one v ones and gets forward.”
McGeouch has had more game time but has also been in and out of the starting XI in recent weeks, with Funso Ojo and Craig Bryson also coming back to full fitness.
McInnes said: “Of the players we signed in January, Matty was a bit different. “But when you sign players like Hernandez and Dylan, who haven’t had a lot of games, there’s got to be an understanding that you’re maybe not getting them at full pelt. “Dylan has been training great, he’s a good influence in the dressing room. Sometimes you go with the midfielders who are most ready. Dylan will get to where he needs to get to.”