Anthony O’Connor |

Following last weekend’s Scottish Cup win over Stranraer, the Dons are back on league duty this evening, with plenty to look forward to – and plenty of work to do too – between now and the end of the campaign in May.
As has been well documented, the Dons used the recent winter break to get out to Dubai and do some warm weather training in preparation for what lies ahead. According to Anthony O’Connor, the trip was just what the doctor ordered.

“It was nice to go out to Dubai and train in the hot weather. It is not a bad place to go to enjoy the sun, but we were out there to train. Make no bones about it, it was a training camp, not a holiday. We did have some free time when we were not training but we spent that time recovering and getting ready for the next session. Hopefully, the training and work we did out there will set us up nicely for the games coming up.

“It’s my first experience of having a winter break as all my career so far has been down in England. It doesn’t really bother me one way or the other. It was nice to have a couple of days off to go home and see my family. The likes of myself and the other Irish boys, we don’t get a lot of time to get back home so that was nice to do that when down south, we would have been playing a lot of games at that time. But this is my job, it would not have bothered me if we were doing the same here.

“Hopefully, the break will benefit us because of the fact we were in Europe and didn’t get much of a summer break. We only got two or three weeks off maximum, where other teams are used to six or seven weeks. So if you look at it that way, then it is probably nice to get the winter break to get some extra days.

“It was good to escape the weather here too. Out there, the surfaces were very good which is conducive to having a good session. It does help you when you are training on good pitches. I am not saying the ones we train on here are shocking, but it is well documented that they are not the best. It would be nice to get a quality training facility here. It will only help the club move forward in so many different ways. Ultimately, training on good pitches helps you perform better on game day.

“As we are a good technical side who like to keep the ball on the floor, we need to be able to practice in conditions which allow us to do that so we can replicate it on a Saturday”.

There are still a few days left in January and the closing of the transfer window, something most of us will welcome given the wealth of rumours swirling around the club. Does it affect the players as much as the fans?

“It’s just the nature of football these days. When the transfer window is open then you are going to get speculation in the papers and on TV. I think you get that with every team. As players, you just have to let it go. What is going to happen is going to happen. We just have to get on with our football. Whether you are one of the players being speculated about or whether it is one of your team mates, you don’t really talk about it much in the dressing room.

“If it is you who is being talked about, and I have experienced that, you just want to keep your head down and not think too much about it. If you think about it and then nothing comes of it, your head can be a bit all over the place. It is important to just get on with things. If something is going to happen, it will happen, but more often than not, it is out of your control.

“We have got good players and when the team is doing well, then of course there are going to be people talking about you and scouts and clubs are going to take an interest. We will see what happens. We are all just concentrating on the game tonight and we will see what the squad is like at the end of January”.

The Dons come into tonight’s game on a good run of form with four straight wins, momentum they’ll be looking to continue against Dundee.

“It was very important to go on a little bit of a run before we broke up for the winter break. If we were on a losing streak, then the break and Dubai would not have been as enjoyable. It would have been a very long three weeks.

“There is a lot to look forward to and the players are dying to get back out onto the pitch. There is still a lot to fight for this season.

“Second place is maybe not what you want, you want to push on for the league title, but at the moment Celtic look like they are not going to throw it away any time soon. We will just keep trying to put points on the board and hopefully take something off them in Glasgow next week. To finish second will take a big effort from all the lads and hopefully we can do that”.

Mention of Celtic Park brings to mind Anthony’s display there in the Aberdeen midfield earlier this term. How much does he enjoy that role?

“I always say to anyone that I am a centre-half and will always be one. But if the manager feels like that he needs me in midfield for whatever reason or for certain games, then I have absolutely no problem filling in there and doing my job.

“I feel comfortable in a lot of positions. Throughout my career I have been a versatile player and have been put in different positions. I enjoyed the game down at Celtic when I got put into midfield. It was my first game for the club in midfield and I felt I did ok. So during the second half of the season, we are just going to have to see what happens. I am just really looking forward to the second half of the campaign.

“I am really enjoying my time here and I have played most of the games so far. Things could not have gone much better for me. Second half of the season, I will be looking to do the same and kick on. I want to improve every day in training and I think the gaffer here has brought me on as a player. Training with good players you are obviously going to get better. Hopefully the fans have a lot more to see of me yet and there is more to come from me”.