MAVERICK MIOVSKI IS KEEN TO BE A TOP GUN
Beating Furuhashi and Colak in the scoring charts is on the radar for Bojan after double sees off Killie
WHEN Aberdeen forked out just over £500,000 to sign Bojan Miovski, plenty of eyebrows were raised about a player who arrived in the north east as a relative unknown.
His pedigree was not immediately obvious, given he had been plying his trade in Hungary previously and had been part of an MTK Budapest side who were relegated last season.
But his impact at Pittodrie has been instantaneous. From the moment he netted on his debut against Raith Rovers in the Premier Sports Cup, he has gone from strength to strength.
He scored twice against Kilmarnock on Saturday as the Dons cruised to a victory which elevates them to fifth in the Premiership.
Miovski now has seven goals in eight league games this season, putting him level with Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic and one behind top scorer Antonio Colak of Rangers.
The 23-year-old North Macedonia striker has been a revelation for Jim Goodwin’s side, fully justifying his price tag and status as the headline acquisition in a summer rebuild.
Perhaps the best compliment you could pay Miovski is that Aberdeen already look certain to bank a tidy profit on their outlay.
Not that he’ll be departing any time soon. Miovski signed a four-year deal in the summer and has rapidly become a fans’ favourite.
If this form continues, though, it won’t be long until he starts attracting attention from elsewhere. He is a striker of class and composure, with a lethal left foot to match. He is more elegance and technique than pace or power. A clever footballer with sharp movement and an eye for goal.
His ambition is to finish this season as the league’s top scorer. Following his brace against Killie, he was asked about trying to keep pace with Furuhashi and Colak.
‘When they score, they push me to play better,’ replied Miovski. ‘When I see them scoring goals, it pushes me on to score even more goals and be top scorer.
‘My target is to be top scorer in the league. Every striker thinks about this and dreams about this.’
The style of football Aberdeen are now playing under Goodwin will surely help his cause.
The Dons have now netted 15 goals in their four home games this season, Saturday’s 4-1 victory coming on the back of a 5-0 hammering of Livingston in their last outing at Pittodrie in late August.
Goodwin’s side are now the league’s top scorers at home and Miovski is revelling in a more expansive and attacking style.
‘It’s nice to score,’ said the striker, who had only just returned from international duty. ‘We play attacking football and score a lot of goals — not only me, but all of the team. I am happy and I hope it continues.
‘I wanted to score a hat-trick, but I have been travelling a lot with the national team for two or three days before so, for me, getting 60-65 minutes was perfect. I didn’t want any risk of getting injured.
‘When I came here, they showed me the plan of playing attacking football. For me, as a striker, that’s perfect. I knew I would score goals if I signed for Aberdeen.
‘I like the style Aberdeen play more than last season when I was in Hungary. I am enjoying it and I have a good connection with all of the players.
‘I enjoyed the fans’ support a lot. It has pushed me and given me extra motivation to do better on the pitch. I hope I can score many more goals for the team and the fans.’
Derek McInnes was in the opposing dugout on Saturday as he made his return to Pittodrie some 18 months after parting company with the club.
Across his eight years in charge, he had some decent strikers at his disposal. Adam Rooney and Sam Cosgrove chief among them.
Yet, even with a relatively small sample size, it already looks like Miovski could be the best striker the club have had in many a long year.
Aberdeen took the lead on 22 minutes through Vicente Besuijen, who slotted home after ex-Dons defender Ash Taylor had failed to clear the danger for Killie.
It then became a quickfire double. Aberdeen made it 2-0 when Miovski was fouled by Killie keeper Zach Hemming and the Dons striker dusted himself down to send Hemming the wrong way from the spot.
Killie’s response was swift as Taylor glanced a header into the far corner, but Aberdeen scored a third on the stroke of half-time to take the sting out of the game.
Miovski showed his poacher’s instincts to convert from close range at the second attempt after his initial shot had been blocked.
Aberdeen skipper Anthony Stewart’s header made it 4-1 shortly after the
hour.
The Dons spent the final half-hour
largely in cruise control, while McInnes was left to rue some slack defending in a heavy defeat.
With just one win from their opening eight games, Killie captain Alan Power has demanded a quick response ahead of back-to-back home games, starting with St Johnstone on Wednesday night then Hearts next Sunday.
‘We’ll be doing everything we can to put it right on Wednesday,’ said the Irishman. ‘We need to win those games and everyone has to remain positive.’
With McInnes signing a new long-term deal on the eve of the match, Power insists it is a boost to know the manager is tied down for the long term.
‘It’s huge. The club has done really well to tie him down and obviously we wanted to put in a performance to merit the gaffer getting that new deal,’ said the Irish midfielder.
‘Unfortunately we didn’t do that. As a group of players, we let ourselves down, which is hurting us most.
‘We concede then concede again straight after that, which we were all disappointed about.
‘We played relatively well in maybe the first 40 minutes and started coming into the game a little bit, but we got punished.
‘It was a tough one to take, going in 3-1 down at the break, and then we didn’t really perform after that. The third goal was a killer blow.’
ABERDEEN (4-1-4-1): Roos 7; Richardson 7, Stewart 8, McCrorie 7, Coulson 8; Ramadani 7; Watkins 7 (Morris 67), Besuijen 7 (Ramirez 80), Kennedy 7 (Milne 80), Hayes 7 (Duncan 80); Miovski 8 (Duk Lopes 67). Subs not used: Lewis, MacKenzie, Morris, Polvara, Lobban. Booked: Watkins. KILMARNOCK (4-4-2): Hemming 6; Mayo 5, Wright 5, Taylor 6, Chrisene 6; Jones 5 (Armstrong 65), Power 5 (Warnock 81), Polworth 5 (Alston 70), Lyons 5 (McKenzie 65); Shaw 5, Doidge 5 (Cameron 65). Subs not used: Walker, Dorsett, McInroy, Lafferty. Booked: Jones, Taylor. Man of the match: Hayden Coulson. Referee: Kevin Clancy. Attendance: 16,348.