Last week's 1-1 draw against Rangers extended the Dons' unbeaten run to five matches and equalled the best such sequence enjoyed by Craig Brown as Aberdeen manager, the previous one achieved at the same stage last season in the early part of his tenure.

I know some Dons fans were a little disappointed that, having taken the lead, we failed to go on to record that long-awaited victory in Govan, but that's just being greedy; realistically, a point at Ibrox at any time has to be seen as a decent return.

The only real downside last week was the news that Rob Milsom is out for the remainder of the campaign. As you will all be well aware, Rob has been a major player for us, and his absence will be felt in the coming months.

I have not been able to see much of the Dons in the flesh of late, but I am told they are generally playing well, albeit struggling with the ongoing problem - one shared by a number of other SPL teams - of getting the ball into the net regularly enough. What I have been told is that there's a strong and obvious team spirit right now, evidence of the boys playingfor each other and working hard for the side. While you would always hope to see those attributes, they are not always, for whatever reason, evident in a football team, and they can go a long way towards ensuring success.

Over the past few months I have had the less than onerous task of interviewing quite a few of the lads from the 1980s for a book which is due to be released later in the year.

Almost three decades on, the one thing that still shinesthrough is the bond that squad of players enjoyed. They had a single-minded determination, driven on of course by their manager Alex Ferguson, and would have done anything for each other and for the group out on the pitch. Yes, there were supremely skilled players in that side, and they could not have enjoyed the victories they did without that talent, but I have been left in no doubt that their domination back then owed much to their mental approach.

There was an element of luck; I'm sure even Sir Alex would admit that. It is rare for any club to be able to assemble such a perfect balance of players whose attributes dovetailed in the way that squad's did. Throw in the right attitude and that psychological toughness and you have a pretty potent mix.

It would be wrong to try to compare the present squad to that 80s side in terms of talent and ability, these are very different times with very different hurdles to be overcome.

But there is no reason why players these days cannot at least emulate that winning mentality common to all those who operated under Ferguson.

That is so much easier to instil when the team is doing well, just like right now, and I would hope the boys have been feeding off the positivity generated by the recent run. I am aware of a bit of an upsurge in interest and excitement among the fans at present, there seems to be a growing belief that perhaps we are on the verge of better times, and it would be such a shame if that were to be nipped in the bud by a dip in form.

The previous occasion Dunfermline visited was the Friday night football experiment and I thought we put in one of our best performances of the season that night, romping to a 4-0 win. Anything approaching that, followed up by a Scottish Cup success over Queen of the South next weekend would keep things bubbling along nicely and allow the team to build on that feel-good factor.