McInnes joy as hitmen front up
Del’s Dons get back on track after striking a balance
Derek McInnes hailed his hitmen for stepping up to the plate to help get Aberdeen moving in the right direction in the Premiership.
Greg Leigh, Sam Cosgrove and Ryan Hedges were all on target as Del’s Dons registered their biggest home win in the league since December.
Aberdeen were under pressure after losing at St Mirren and drawing at Kilmarnock but they eased up to fourth in the table by comfortably seeing off an injury-hit County side.
McInnes said: “I’m very pleased. From the first roll of the ball we were very bright with our work.
“We stamped our authority on the game and were everything we weren’t at Kilmarnock last week.
“Our front three pulled their defence all over the park, our full-backs pushed high up the pitch and there was an intent to get the first goal.
“We passed up two or three good opportunities before the goal but I was pleased to see the players get their reward. Our performance was very good.
“I’ve said before our wide players have to c ont r i but e . Between them and big Sam they did well to win it.” Aberdeen’s injury crisis meant their back line picked itself as McInnes only had four f it defenders, with Ash Taylor, Scott McKenna and Shay Logan out.
County had injury concerns of their own with seven players missing.
Tom Grivosti was switched forward into midf ield to try to snub out Aberdeen’s creativity.
But the Staggies were on the back foot from the off with Richard Foster, on his return to the club, having to head over his own bar to clear a dangerous Niall McGinn cross.
County then switched off and were almost undone.
Lewis Ferguson played a quick free- kick which allowed McGinn to curl in a low cross that Ross Laidlaw could only push out.
The ball fell to Cosgrove who beat the keeper but Keith Watson cleared the ball off the line.
Aberdeen were a threat again as a good run saw Leigh pick out McGinn but he fired high over the bar.
Just when it looked like the Dons were running out of ideas, they took the lead with a well-worked free-kick in 34 minutes.
McGinn’s cleverly disguised pass found Hedges in space and he swung in a teasing cross that allowed Leigh to head past Laidlaw.
The keeper then had a rush of blood to the head two minutes later as he gave away a needless penalty.
Laidlaw came rushing out to the edge of the box and clearly caught Ferguson, although ref Nick Walsh took his time before he pointed to the spot. Cosgrove stepped up to beat Laidlaw and make it 10 goals in as many games this term. Aberdeen put the game out of sight five minutes after the interval when Hedges made the most of some hesitant defending to stab the ball past Laidlaw. County were then awarded a penalty of their own when Ross Stewart’s shot came off the hand of Funso Ojo.
The Dons were unhappy with that decision but their complaints soon died down as Billy Mckay smashed the spot kick off the post. Great skill from Hedges left Foster on the ground and his cross picked out McGinn but he fired wide and then another move saw Laidlaw push away a Cosgrove shot.
Sub Brian Graham robbed Zak Vyner and found Stewart but his effort also came back off the woodwork and that just put the tin lid on County’s afternoon.
Scott Wright could have added another for Aberdeen after coming off the bench but he was denied by the legs of Laidlaw.
McInnes was pleased to see out the win with a clean sheet and added: “The boys who came in, Ryan, Niall, Mikey Devlin and Zak Vyner, all did really well.
“It was a good team performance and shows what can be done when we are more positive with our forward play.
“We’ve picked up three points against a team which has become used to winning so I’m delighted to win and to keep the clean sheet.”