Mcinnes wants his players to seize chance to beat champions after ‘ missed opportunity’ against Rangers on opening day
Derek Mcinnes admits Aberdeen have already blown one chance to stun the Old Firm this term - but he i s determined they will not waste their next as they look to draw level with Celtic.
The Dons were faced with a striker crisis ahead of hosting Rangers on the opening day of the campaign and slumped to a 1- 0 defeat.
But regardless of those injury woes, Mcinnes admits his
Dons did not do enough to trouble the Light Blues back in July.
The Pittodrie outfit have, h o we v e r, t u r n e d t h i n g s around since then and can now pull up alongside Neil Lennon's under- fire Hoops in second place in the Premiership with a victory when the champions travel north tomorrow.
But the Reds boss admits his team will need to show far more attacking threat than they managed against Steven Gerrard's Premiership leaders. He said: "We didn't go into the Rangers game in perfect
condition but we still should have offered far more of ourselves. For me it was a missed opportunity. We didn't do anything that you'd need to do to win the game against an opponent like that.
"Rangers are a strong team, as are Celtic, and you have to do so many things right to overcome that - but we never gave ourselves a chance.
"I t was o n l y 1 - 0 a n d we restricted them to ver y few chances but we had t o do more.
"That is a reminder that in ever y game you play, there has to be a balance in your approach and an intent has to be there.”
"Hopefully we can implement that intent from the first minute on Sunday."
Aberdeen have only dropped a further five points since that Rangers s et- back, l eading some to speculate whether they could again split the Glasgow giants this year.
B u t wi t h j u s t 1 0 g a mes played, Mcinnes preferred not to add his name to the debate. He said: "I think it's too early to say with any certainty.”
Mcinnes has been sweating on the involvement of Jonny Hayes and Ryan Edmondson for Sunday after the pair limped off against Hamilton in midweek. But theaberdeen boss says both have an outside chance of featuring.