Dons give Killie the Maddison blues
ADAM Rooney hailed Aberdeen’s new strength in depth as the secret to their success.
The Dons were again inspired by teenage loan sensation James Maddison as they won a fourth consecutive match and moved up to second.
Maddison had assists for three of the Dons’ goals just six days after his fabulous free-kick that beat Rangers.
Rooney believes the 19- year- old Norwich midfielder has few equals in the Premiership but stressed that he can not be sure of playing every week.
He said: “He’s a different type of player to some we’ve had.
“Sometimes in training he looks like a 12-year-old with his build, but the way he gets away from people is tremendous.
“If you make a run it’s likely he’s seen the opportunity before you have.
“He’s got that bit of vision and class that not many in this league have.
“At the same time, he’s not guaranteed a start.
“More than ever we have a bench where any one of them could be playing.”
Maddison was at the centre of a controversial penalty award by Willie Collum that allowed Rooney to open the scoring.
It seemed a strange decision as the Englishman appeared to clatter home goalie Jamie MacDonald before going down.
The keeper said: “Maddison has come in and he nails me. The next thing I know the whistle has gone and Willie tells me it’s a penalty for pulling him back.
“I’ve seen the footage back and I still don’t know how he has given the decision.”
Kilmarnock boss Lee Clark didn’t say much about the award but clearly didn’t agree with it.
He said: “The first goal is always important.
“Whether it changed the game, I don’t believe so.
‘What’s the point in me having a go at the referee? I’ll probably just end up losing a few quid by being fined, but it was a strange one.”
There was nothing controversial about Aberdeen’s second goal – perhaps the only surprise that Andy Considine produced such a fine finish.
He popped up at the back of the
penalty area and swept home a corner kick with his left foot.
The Kilmarnock defence didn’t heed that warning about Aberdeen defenders being a danger from set-pieces.
Ash Taylor got on the score-sheet after ghosting in at back and slamming home another Maddison corner.
Jonny Hayes then jinked through the home side and set up Rooney to make it four.
Kilmarnock have conceded 10 goals in two matches and lost to Aberdeen for the 11th time in a row – and it looks like they’ll be battling at the bottom of the table again this season.
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes raved about a performance that he thought was almost perfect.
He said: “We had overlapping fullbacks and we worked hard to get Maddison and McGinn on the ball.
“Shinnie and McLean were opening up the game and the centrehalves dominating.
“For me it was almost a perfect performance.
“There were spells in the game when James Maddison was just unplayable.”