McInnes not surprised to be the best of the rest

DEREK McINNES insists there are ‘no real surprises’ about how the Scottish Premiership table looks as his Aberdeen side climbed back into second above Rangers.

With Mark Warburton’s men only mustering a draw against Ross County at Ibrox, it paved the way for the Dons to secure second on goal difference.

The Pittodrie side have a 14-goal advantage over Rangers and also have a game in hand — against Motherwell a week on Wednesday.

Goals from Ryan Christie and Jayden Stockley ensured they took care of Partick Thistle first.

‘I told the players that we have two league games to try to get us to second spot on our own,’ said McInnes. ‘There is still a lot of football to be played as there are 15 games to go and we recognise that we are in a fight.

‘The league table is probably what I thought it would look like, with Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts and St Johnstone in amongst it. There are no real surprises looking at where we are in the league table.

‘We always knew we were going to be competitive and as long as we are there in 15 games’ time, that is all I am concerned about.

‘With the substitutions, I felt that something had to change as we huffed and puffed a bit.

‘At half-time, I asked the players to find more pace and spark. They did that, dug deep and found a way to win the game.’

Ninth-placed Partick Thistle are now just two points above Hamilton in the relegation play-off spot and have not scored in their past four league matches.

Thistle assistant manager Scott Paterson said: ‘We lacked a cutting edge, which has been the story of our season.’