Jonny remembers to be ultra wary

JONNY HAYES caught one half of last Saturday’s demolition derby action from Ibrox as the Aberdeen team gathered at Pittodrie for their league game against St Johnstone.

He admits it was a stark reminder of what Celtic are capable of inflicting on a rival if they are in a ruthless mood and a scenario Hayes is hell-bent on avoiding later this week.

The Dons won both Pittodrie fixtures last term but have met with two 1-0 reverses, a 4-1 Parkhead loss and a miserable 3-0 Betfred Cup Final defeat at the hands of Brendan Rodgers’ side.

The winger, who voted for Stuart Armstrong as his PFA Scotland Player of the Year, is desperate for Aberdeen to strike a pre-cup final psychological boost by ducking a fifth defeat of the season to Celtic on Friday.

Hayes, who packed away his runners-up medal from November in a drawer, said: ‘No one ever wants to lose — particularly 5-1.

‘We will try to show we are a decent team who won’t be taken lightly. We know Celtic won’t take us lightly but we would not want to be on the end of a score like that.

‘That game was on in the club, we got about half of it. Celtic on their day, when they play like that, can beat anyone.

‘They are the best team in the country and they have proved that by a long way. When they have their players on form and are playing well and scoring, then they are pretty hard to stop.

‘Celtic have won the league but it is first versus second — as it has been a few times over the last couple of seasons when we’ve met them — and there will be a lot of pride at stake. ‘We will be at home and hopefully we can lay a marker down for the cup final. I don’t think the outcome will make much difference for Hampden, though.

‘Anything can happen there. But, for us now, there is second place to fight for. There is a pride element involved in a couple of the games we have coming up as well.

‘We do want to finish strongly as a team and as individuals so that we can go into the cup final in the form of our lives.’

Hayes (left) is up against Moussa Dembele, Scott Sinclair and Armstrong for tonight’s main PFA award.

Kieran Tierney, Dembele, Patrick Roberts and Jason Cummings vie for the young category.