May must learn greed is good

It is time for Stevie May to be a little more selfish, after opening his account for the season in Aberdeen’s 4-0 demolition of St Mirren in the Betfred Cup.

I was at Pittodrie to watch the Dons dismantle the Buddies in one of the most one-sided games I’ve watched for a while and on the basis of what I saw it is going to be a long, hard season for Alan Stubbs and his players.

Aberdeen, however, looked energetic and sharp and when they move the ball around with the pace and quality they did on Saturday there are few teams in the country who can live with them.

Lewis Ferguson showed why the Dons wanted him, and why Hamilton wanted so much money for him, with an excellent display. He dominated the midfield for his side, destroying any St Mirren attack and then contributing himself in an energetic box-to-box role. I was hugely impressed.

But Stevie was the one I was really pleased for and the reaction of his team-mates to him ending his drought in front of goal was fantastic to see. That told me how popular a figure Stevie is in the Pittodrie dressing room and I’m sure Derek McInnes would love to see him kick on from here.

To do that, he needs to put himself first a little more. I know he works hard for the team and says all the right things such as ‘as long as the team is playing well and winning games I’m happy’ but he is a striker and his first task is to score goals.

It’s how I always approached the game in my playing days. I went on to the pitch every week and my sole aim was to put the ball in the back of the net.

I want to see Stevie showing more of that mindset at Aberdeen but to do that he perhaps has to ease up in his workrate a little. I don’t mean become a lazy player, but concentrate on getting on the end of the ball rather than dropping off the back four to be the link-up player.

Look at Saturday’s game. Stevie had Gary Mackay-Steven, who gave the poor St Mirren left back, Hayden Coulson, nightmares for the whole game. When Mackay Steven is in the mood like he showed on Saturday, ably supported by the lively Scott Wright and Frank Ross, Stevie just needs to be in the box to get on the end of the balls they can provide.

I’ve been there myself. I once went two entire games without scoring. Seriously, I had a nightmare at Swindon Town one season. I scored 10 goals in seven pre-season games and felt as if I was going to have a great campaign then went the first 10 matches of the season without scoring and it affected me for the whole season.

Those 10 games were the longest of my career.

OFF THE MARK: Stevie May, second from left, celebrates his goal against St Mirren on Saturday with his Dons team-mates