Bryson set for first-team berth

CRAIG Bryson was supposed to be the new Graeme Shinnie for Aberdeen.

Pittodrie manager Derek McInnes couldn’t have been more pleased that the former Derby man chose his club to round off a stellar career in the north east.

But an ankle injury took longer than expected to heal and was followed by difficulties with his other one, meaning his appearances have been limited to 10 thus far, principally as a substitute.

He played the last halfhour in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Celtic and now that Funso Ojo has been ruled out because of a gashed knee, Bryson is in line to start at Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup fifth-round replay tomorrow night.

“We have totally missed Shinnie,” McInnes said. “But I don’t think we would have missed him as much if Bryson had been available. That’s because I see a lot of similarities between them.

“Craig was my marquee signing and even when he’s been running in the last couple of weeks he looks like he’s good to go.

“Obviously there are a few players who are not quite up to speed because of a lack of matches but he looks like the player we thought we had signed. It has been so frustrating for him, me and everyone at the club because we made such a big effort to get him here. But now we are coming to the business end of the season and it might just be the perfect time for him to come back.

“We were shoe-horning people into the team and a lot of them did that very well but I think you need players in their right positions.”