Watkins is a ‘great piece of business’ for McInnes

first ten minutes or so, we were very good and we got Marley into the game. I thought he had a very good debut and you saw the speed in the team. ‘He’s the type of striker we wanted because he can play with a (Curtis) Main, with a Cosgrove, with an Edmondson. For me, getting him in was a great bit of business.’ Having been inactive since their opening-day defeat to Rangers after eight players breached Covid protocols, McInnes was delighted that a victory against St Johnstone on Thursday was followed up by another triumph against Gary Holt’s side. ‘We’ve watched everybody else’s season get up and running with envy,’ he added. ‘We had pre-season of seven-and-a-half weeks and were desperate to get going. We were then disappointed with our performance in the opening game against Rangers and been idle for 19 days whilst we’ve taken a kicking. ‘We want to get some positivity again and the best way to do that is to win games. We scored two today and could have been more comfortable but, at this stage of the season, it’s about getting the three points and the improvements as the season goes on.’ Livingston felt they should have had the chance to equalise from the penalty spot late on when Shay Logan fell on the ball but McInnes wasn’t convinced. ‘I have seen it and, for me, I don’t see a handball,’ he said. ‘Obviously, the camera angle doesn’t allow you to see anything there, but I’m far from convinced it’s a handball. I don’t think the referee can see it that way and that’s why it wasn’t given. That said, we were delighted to come out with all three points because I do think we looked a tired team at the end.’ Niall McGinn didn’t feature yesterday, with Scott McKenna failing to come back out for the second half. But McInnes revealed that neither player has been ruled out of Thursday’s one-off Europa League qualifier with NSI Runavik at Pittodrie. ‘McKenna was sick at half-time,’ explained McInnes. ‘So we decided to take him off. I think he’ll be okay for Tuesday’s training. ‘Niall took a knock against St Johnstone and was still sore and tender on Saturday. We ruled him out for this game and he is having a scan tomorrow but we’re hopeful there’s nothing there and it settles down for Thursday. ‘Craig (Bryson) felt his calf in the warm-up. Some of the boys who have not been involved have maybe overtrained this week. He felt his calf tighten in the warm-up, so we hope it’s not too serious. ‘I don’t think anyone who was involved today, other than McGinn, will be a doubt for Thursday.’