We're on a decent wee run at the moment and have lost just once since September. That was a bit of a hammering at the hands of Dundee United, although their recent results suggest that wasn't actually that embarrassing a result. Pittodrie is one of the toughest venues in the league at the moment after Parkhead and Tannadice but we have a bit of confidence just now. We might be a bit tired after playing during the week but we comfortably took care of Queen of the South and the confidence gained from that should at the very least balance out any fatigue our players are feeling.
We used to have a terrible time at Pittodrie but since Danny Lennon has come in we've only lost once there. Admittedly, it has helped that Craig Brown's teams weren't the most attacking and there were a string of 0-0 draws, but it's not too shabby a record at a ground we hadn't won at for the best part of 25 years before Gareth Wardlaw shinned one in to keep us up in 2011. We also won there in the League Cup last season - on penalties - so it seems to be a happier hunting ground than it used to be. Tomorrow will be difficult, with Aberdeen going along well, but our recent record in the Granite City suggests we don't really have anything to fear.
Despite that, we'll go there as underdogs. The Dons are pushing for a top six place and a European position (although you'd think they had a chance of the title considering how their fans and the media are behaving) while we are still trying to drag ourselves away from the bottom of the table and the relegation play-offs. No one outside of the club will give us a great deal of hope, but that's often when we are at our best. We'll need every player to play to their potential but there's absolutely no reason why we can't produce an unexpected result tomorrow.
Our chances have been handed a boost with the news Paul McGowan might play - not bad for someone who was supposedly going to be missing for 10 weeks just a few days ago! As we reported on Wednesday, he hasn't broken his toe and may well be involved. That's good as losing him last season spelled a disastrous run of form. Will he come straight into the side? Normally it would be a no brainer, but Gary Harkins replaced him during the week and apparently did well, getting a goal into the bargain. If McGowan isn't quite fit we'd be as well benching him rather than risking losing him long term.
If there are other changes they could be at the back. Sean Kelly and Jason Naismith were dropped during the week and ended up on the bench, David van Zanten and Danny Grainger taking their places. It was a bit unexpected as the youngsters have been doing well and had conceded just one goal in their last four league games - although they had let in two against Queens. The more experienced heads didn't concede any during the week so have arguably done enough to get the nod again - although Kelly did come off the bench and get himself a goal, which may change Danny Lennon's thinking! With Gary Teale and David Barron still missing, changes at fullback are likely to be the only ones.
The media are absolutely salivating over Aberdeen at the moment, while their fans seem to be buying into the hype and think they're the bestestest team in the world as they're currently the fourth best team in Scotland. Yes, Derek McInnes is doing a decent job, but Aberdeen weren't exactly a lot worse at this stage under Craig Brown last year - it was only around the turn of the year things started going badly. McInnes has also taken the Dons into a cup semi-final, but both Brown and Mark McGhee did that and neither of them managed to get into the top six, let alone Europe. I don't doubt Aberdeen will make it into the top half - something they haven' managed since 2009 - but I think everyone is getting slightly carried away with how well they're doing.
Worryingly for us, Aberdeen have a couple of pretty handy strikers these days. Niall McGinn was sensational last year and has managed eight goals so far this season, even though he missed a chunk of the campaign through injury. Scott Vernon is still to recapture the form he showed before McGinn's arrival last season but he is still a threat and someone we need to watch out for, especially as he has a rather annoying knack of scoring against us. Calvin Zola did well down south last season but has struggled since coming up here and has often been a source of comedy for opposition fans as he does a rather good impersonation of Bambi on ice. Cammy Smith missed a penalty against us in the cup last season but is a talented young striker who is also capable of causing us a few problems.
Someone else who fits that description is Barry Robson. Just after we were promoted in 2006 there was barely a game against Dundee United that didn't involve him scoring - and the one he didn't score in he managed a couple of assists. It's worrying for us that he's back in Scotland, even though he's considerably older, and it wouldn't be a huge surprise if he runs the show again tomorrow. Willo Flood is now back from injury, which is bad news for us, while we need to make sure Peter Pawlett doesn't fall over - although doing that last season against Dundee helped keep us up! I always feel Jonny Hayes is the more dangerous winger, although he's arguably not as big a threat as he was while he was at Inverness Caley Thistle. Getting Gregg Wylde signed up in the summer was a good move by McInnes, although he hasn't played a great deal so far.
If we get through the midfield we'll find a rather solid backline blocking our route to Jamie Langfield's goal (unless Nicky Weaver has been given the nod for some reason). The Dons have plenty of good centre-halves, including the experienced Russell Anderson, Mark Reynolds - who can also do a job at leftback - and Andrew Considine, who looks to have recovered from the broken leg he picked up this time last season. Michael Hector has also been a regular starter after arriving on loan from Reading. Joe Shaughnessy has continued to do well on the right of the defence after coming from pretty much nowhere to establish himself in the first team last season, although leftback Clark Robertson is missing after having an operation on his knee.
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