McInnes feels optimistic for Celtic clashes

Aberdeen could move level on points with Scottish Premiership champions Celtic this weekend – but Derek McInnes is refusing to get carried away as the league table starts to take shape.

The Reds warmed up for this Sunday’s visit of the Hoops with a 4-2 success against Hamilton Accies on Tuesday night.

Neil Lennon’s Celtic take on AC Milan in the Europa League this evening before heading to Pittodrie to meet the Dons as they look to bounce back after a 2-0 derby defeat by Rangers.

The Dons would move up to 25 points from their opening 11 games if they can pile more misery on the Hoops with a win, but McInnes is paying little attention to the league table.

He said: “It’s a bit foolish to look too much at the league table at this stage and I’ve always said that.

“I think you need to get through the first couple of rounds of games and round about the Christmas period it gives you some sort of semblance of how the season will play out.

“For us Tuesday’s game was an opportunity to go into third and we wanted to take that opportunity.

“Sunday gives us the opportunity to go level with Celtic and we will need to do a lot right for that to happen.

“We will need to be as competitive as we can for as long as we can. We’re still in October and not through the first round of games, but we want to make sure we do all we can to get three points at the weekend.”

The Dons are waiting to discover if the groin injury suffered by Jonny Hayes will rule him out of the upcoming double- header against Celtic, with Sunday ’ s league match followed by the 2020 Scottish Cup semi- final a week later.

Ross McCrorie, Ryan Edmondson and Ash Taylor also suffered knocks against Accies, but they are expected to be fit to feature against the Hoops.

Sam Cosgrove, Greg Leigh, Mikey Devlin and Matty Kennedy continued on the road back to full fitness by taking part in a practice game at Cormack Park yesterday, but McInnes has played down the chances of any of them starting against Celtic this weekend.

He said: “These boys played 45 minutes in a practice match and then have a couple of training days before Celtic on Sunday.

“None of these boys will be ready to start that game, but we’ ll have another practice match Tuesday and try to build the fitness that way.

“Sometimes needs must and injuries might dictate things.

“All these boys who have been out will be looking to build their fitness and finetune their work with that semi-final in mind.

“We need to make sure we are as ready as we can be for the Celtic games, against a team who have clearly got attacking threats.

“This Sunday is a game we are looking forward to.

“We are three points behind Celtic and we want to make sure we take the opportunity of being at home to try to win that game.”

McInnes, meanwhile, admitted he was left slightly frustrated by his side’s second- half display against Hamilton having raced into a 4-0 lead by the interval.

He said: “T he game wasn’t as tidy as I wanted it to be and I think the changes didn’t help.

“I was conscious of trying to get boys some minutes and there were enforced changes with Edmondson and Jonny going off, which wasn’t ideal.

“I didn’ t think we retained the ball as well as we should have done.

“The 4-2 scoreline took a bit of gloss off it, but we set out at the start of the game to get three points against a tough opponent and we did that.”

RED-HOT: The Dons warmed up for a double-header against the champions by thrashing Hamilton 4-2 on Tuesday.