A return to home comforts saw the Dons back to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Ross County, much to Derek McInnes’ delight.

“I was really pleased with how we started. We’d looked at their last two performances, how they were hard to break down within their shape. We wanted ball carriers and enough speed in the team and with Main leading the line, he was a good foil for that speed, linking the play and retaining possession.

“The number nine position is important in a team like ours. When you’ve so many supporting players, you need somebody to link it and Curtis did that really well today. He’s had a frustrating time with niggling injuries, he’s missed too much training this season. It’s only the last ten days or so that he’s trained every day, so I’m pleased for him to play well and get his goals, and to make a case for himself to start more games. With the speed round about him, he led the line really well and that was pivotal in us winning the game.

“We effectively had four wingers on the pitch. The two pairs combined brilliantly on either side and I thought McCrorie and Campbell won us enough of the ball to get us going forward. For that first 35 minutes, it was very much like the team we’d been watching in the early part of the season.

“We’ve got great respect for every opponent we play, as we showed today, but if we reach our levels, we’re competitive, we can cause teams problems. I thought we did really well to move them about this afternoon and that should give our boys confidence.

“But you never get it all your own way and the changes they had to make actually helped them. We started well again after the break, it was a great finish from Curtis for 2-0. After that maybe we didn’t keep the ball as well as we might, but on the balance of play, I felt the score was about right.

“The team have worked hard through that sticky patch we had but today we brought better performances to the game as well as the work ethic. Having McCrorie in there helps and I felt the back three were excellent. We dealt with the problems they offered us and I’m pleased we got the clean sheet because they deserved it.

“It was very important we won today to get back winning again but also to start this run of games through December. We should be getting some bodies back and we want to come through that feeling good about ourselves and in a good place before we try to make the changes we think are necessary in January to make the squad even stronger.

“January is when you look at the table, when it’s settled down and you can really see who is aiming for what. We want to be in a good position at that point because I’m confident this team will get better if we get a fair run of luck on injuries at last and that the changes I’m hoping to make will help us even more.

“It was nice to get Kieran on for his debut – he made a lovely, tasty tackle right at the start! He covers the ground quickly and he had to get that one right because it could have been another Sam Cosgrove debut if he hadn’t! Confident boy, good personality, he didn’t come through the system, he joined us late, but I really liked him when he used to come up and train with the 16s.

“We wanted him in full-time but his parents wanted him to finish his education, and rightly so, but we’re glad to have him. He’s trains with good players in the first team since the start of things really, that helps his development and he’s doing really well. He’s quick, willing to get up and down the pitch, he can play as full-back or wing-back, so it was nice to get him on and see him make a contribution.”