New Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin was happy to get his time with the Dons off to a winning start with a 3-0 victory at Queen of the South in the Premier Sports Cup, particularly with the game coming so soon after the players returned to training.

“I’m really happy because we didn’t spend much time together yet. It’s only three weeks or so, we have some new players also, so it was good to find a way to win this game. It’s not easy to play here, Queen of the South did some good things, they blocked us well in some situations.

“I am pleased we were able to win but also to see the players really try to play with the identity we want to create, the intensity, how we press, how we work with each other, the team spirit.

“Of course, we can’t keep it up for 90 minutes yet this early in the season, but we can see the progression at least. Already we see that they understand each other. We have parts to improve in the build-up, but that’s the way it is. You can’t force it, you can’t do everything at once. We need to be focused on some parts of our game then go on to others. Now we are focusing a lot on the pressing and how we arrive in the box when we attack. So, let’s see how we can keep building the team.”

The first half in particular saw the Dons in sparkling form as an attacking unit, much to Jimmy’s delight.

“Jamie and Leighton, when they get time on the ball, the quality of passing is a really high level. Ester pressed the opposition with his energy, but still had quality to score when the ball arrives in the box. It says a lot about him. Shayden with his speed, one against one, he can create things, he was exciting at times, so it was a good performance going forward.

“In defence, Queen of South are good in picking up second balls, but I think we picked up the most on second balls today. It’s not easy to just go win a football game, so it was nice to have a clean sheet and win the game.

“In front of the defence, Sivert made a good start after only a couple of days here. I know him from before of course, so I told him just to be himself, be who he is and do his things and don’t overthink it. It’s a good team and we need him to bring balance and to just focus on that and I think he did it quite well today.”

“With Bojan, we spoke and agreed there are a lot of things going on at the moment, so we agreed not to play this game. But he’s training with us on Monday and we go again from there. He’s a really good player, he also gives good energy inside the locker room. He’s doing fine.”