Veteran Miller still a real handful
McKenna ready for battle with Dens star
JUST a few days short of his 39th birthday, Kenny Miller remains the centre of attention. For team-mates and opponents alike. While his fellow Dundee players will be hoping the veteran striker maintains his potentially season-saving form at Pittodrie tonight, one Aberdeen defender will be looking to exorcise some painful personal memories.
Scott McKenna may be the best young centre-half in Scotland, an established international who has already attracted bids from Celtic, Hull City and Aston Villa.
When Miller’s name pops up, though, the 22-year-old almost winces as he recalls being given the runaround by the then-Rangers forward last season.
‘I played against him when Rangers beat us 3-0 at Ibrox — and he dragged me all over the place that night,’ said McKenna, who had just established himself in Derek McInnes’ team at the time of that beatdown.
‘That was a big learning curve for me that evening because Carlos Pena played behind him and Miller dragged me everywhere out of position.
‘Rangers were far the better team. But I have learned from that and, hopefully, (tonight) that will be the case.
‘Kenny has hit a good bit of form of late, scoring seven in his last five games.
‘In terms of movement and knowledge, he’s one of the toughest I’ve faced.
‘I’ve heard from a lot of people that he is a great professional and you can see that. To still be playing at this level at 38, it is a credit to him.
‘He is a difficult opponent and we know we will have our hands full. But you expect someone with that experience to give you problems. It will just be up to me to try to nullify that threat.’
A victory for Aberdeen would take them to within a point of Rangers and Kilmarnock. Not bad for a team who were stuck in the bottom six until recently.
With visits from Hearts and Celtic to follow before rounding off 2018 at Livingston, the Dons have the chance to make ground rapidly before the winter break.
But that means tightening up at the back after failing to keep clean sheets against St Johnstone, Livingston and St Mirren. And that starts by putting the shackles on Miller.
Dundee defender Darren O’Dea, marvelling at the difference former Livvy player-manager Miller has made since hitting his stride at Dens, said: ‘It’s hard to put your finger on it because he doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary. But he trains like a 25-year-old.
‘I rang Kenny about 18 months ago to ask him a few things. I was just quizzing him because I was getting to that stage when I was past 30 and still feeling great. But I was thinking to myself: “How do I prolong this?”
‘Kenny was great. We spoke for half-an-hour. He doesn’t really have a secret. I think it’s his personality because he’s so enthusiastic.
‘He’s unique. He’s not getting pulled out of training or managing himself. He’s flying about and he’s in every day.
‘He’s got that young boy in him. Kenny has a love for football that you can just tell when you train and play with him.
‘Obviously, he lives really well as a top professional. People say that should be the bare minimum but not a lot of people have his desire.’
Miller struck for Dundee with almost the last kick of the ball in the 3-1 defeat at Kilmarnock on Saturday.
O’Dea insisted: ‘Kenny’s goal wasn’t a consolation. It was massive. With any team near the bottom in any league, you’ll hear them say they want a goalscorer.
‘It’s a big thing that he scored and I said that to him afterwards.
‘It was testament to him that he’s still making runs like that in the 91st minute. For us, it’s important he stays on fire.’ Meanwhile, Aberdeen boss McInnes says Graeme Shinnie and Gary Mackay-Steven ‘owe it’ to him and the club to indicate if they want to stay at Pittodrie beyond the end of the season.
Both players are out of contract in the summer and McInnes wants to know whether they intend to stick around.
‘I’m hopeful we’ll get answers from both in January one way or the other because that would be good for my planning,’ he said.
‘I think they would owe that to me and the club. But both lads have indicated a real willingness to really consider staying and, hopefully, that will be the outcome.’
Mackay-Steven will miss tonight’s game as he continues his recovery from the concussion he suffered in the Betfred Cup final.