Dons striker ‘worth his weight in gold’

ABERDEEN 1 ROSS COUNTY 0

Derek McInnes had praise for Aberdeen striker Adam Rooney after the Irishman hit his 17th goal of the season to earn the points against Ross County.

Rooney has now hit the back of the net 74 times in total for the Dons, since his move from Oldham in 2014, and is just outside the top 20 in the club’s all-time scorers list.

His latest goal came about from a fortuitous bounce off Andrew Davies which struck Rooney and found the net.

The Dons boss said: “It’s a mistake from Davies. He should have gone with his left foot. But it comes to nothing if Rooney doesn’t anticipate and gamble.

“You watch any highlight, even if it’s not a goal, and Rooney’s always hanging about, anticipating the mistake and ready to pounce.

“He got his reward, and he’s worth his weight in gold. It’s another goal in the six-yard box, and when other strikers might be knocking off, he’s just gambling.”

The Dons were light on strikers with the in-form Jayden Stockley missing with a shoulder injury and only Miles Storey on the bench as backup.

McInnes expects Stockley to be back in contention for the midweek trip to Hamilton.

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre insists his side can put their recent poor form behind them as they travel to Hearts in midweek.

“I think we’ve got good players and I know we’re a good side,” he said.

“When I see what we did against Aberdeen today, it doesn’t worry me.

“It will turn. We can’t continue with that amount of bad luck.

“We’ll stick together and look forward to Hearts on Wednesday night,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hearts boss Ian Cathro cut a frustrated figure after his team succumbed to a second loss in a week.

Partick Thistle beat Hearts 2-0 in the Ladbrokes Premiership as the Edinburgh side failed to recover from their midweek Scottish Cup derby defeat to Hibernian.