TALISMANIAN RED DEVIL Lewis can’t wait for Wilson to be unleashed after his fine training form

JOE LEWIS insists his latest Aberdeen team-mate James Wilson could be the talismanic figure needed to lift the gloom for Dons fans.

The keeper feels the frustration of Dons supporters and understands their criticism over a lack of goals with just four from their first five Premiership fixtures.

But he’s convinced new boy Wilson, set to make his home debut against Motherwell today, has the quality to hit the goal trail after a year-long loan deal took him from Manchester United.

Striker Wilson, who made 20 appearances for the Premier League giants and hit four goals, has impressed in training following his recovery from the hamstring injury he picked up in the draw at Hibs a month ago.

And Lewis is excited at the prospect of seeing him in first-team action. He said: “James had been excellent in training. His finishing is as good as I’ve come across.

“You can see why he’s at Man United. He’s 22 and he wouldn’t still be at Man United if he wasn’t a good player.

“Hopefully he can get up and running and get on the scoresheet and go from strength from strength.

“His finishing is brilliant. He always seems to find that bottom BY FRANK GILFEATHER corner at pace, with both feet as well. He’ll be a real asset.”

Wilson turning out against Well may be eagerly anticipated around Pittodrie but Lewis recognises the difficulties the away side will present this afternoon.

He still feels the pain of the 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Stephen Robinson’s side last season, a tie that underlined how good they can be on their day.

Lewis said: “A fair bit was made about the way Motherwell play. I think their football and quality is underrated.

“They’ve got a physical presence up top with Curtis Main and Ryan Bowman, who are strong lads, but there’s no taking away from the quality they’ve got when the ball’s on the ground.

“It’s one of their attributes and we’ll certainly want to be ready for that. But that’s not their only way of playing.

“The finishing of their forward line and the quality they’ve got in midfield is very good.

“They’re certainly not a one-dimensional team.

“That 3-0 defeat at Hampden was a huge disappointment. And it’s something we can draw from hopefully to try to show character and resilience and just get some points on the board to get us going.

“It’s certainly something the lads who were involved in that semi-final defeat will remember and want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Dons are still without injured first-team squad players like Lewis Ferguson, Tommie Hoban, Frank Ross, Scott Wright, Mark Reynolds and Greg Tansey.

And Lewis has called for the fans to accept that the team’s stuttering start of one win, three draws and a loss to Kilmarnock at Pittodrie has been hampered by the number of casualties they’ve suffered so early in the campaign.

Hoban, on loan from Watford, is to undergo surgery for a shoulder problem and could be sidelined for up to three months.

Lewis said: “It’s very early. We’ve had one defeat which wasn’t a great performance but we were down to 10 men after five minutes.

“Points-wise you’re sometimes

better off losing one and winning one rather than drawing two.

“There’s still confidence within the dressing room but you don’t want to be playing catch-up too early in the season.

“We’re confident we can make that ground up.

“We gave away a cheap goal directly from a corner which was disappointing against St Johnstone last week.

“We’ve been working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen again as it’s not like us.

“If we can get our game going we can cause teams a lot of problems.”

The 30-year-old keeper certainly hopes Aberdeen will start to climb away from their eighth place in the league table as he looks ahead to a difficult week.

After the Well test the Dons have a Scottish Cup quarter-final at Hibs on Tuesday night then a clash with champions Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday.

Lewis said: “This is a huge week for us – it’s the sort of week you look forward to.

“Come the end of the season the table doesn’t lie – you finish where you deserve to.”