Jimmy Thelin become the first Aberdeen manager to win his opening five games, as his first taste of Premiership football ended with an encouraging win for the Dons at St Johnstone and once again, the Dons’ boss enjoyed much of what he saw from his team.

“It was a tough game today. We came out really well in the first half and had a good structure in the team, some good combinations, transitions. I think in the last part of the first half, St. Johnstone came out a little bit stronger and kept doing that in the second half. But how we defended today was very good.

“We had 11 players defending together and blocking a lot of shots, trying to block the crosses. How we defended inside the box was really, really good because it’s not easy when St. Johnstone play the way they do. They’re really good at it and you have to be sharp all the time because the ball comes from different angles, crosses, corners, throw-ins. I like what I see from our team today.

“St. Johnstone are good at what they do, and I like that everybody has their identity. When they’re really good at something you have to respect that and do your work before the game. It’s not easy when you maybe get tired, these kind of things, but all the players were trying to do the right thing, more or less the whole game. I’m really happy how they competed and found a way to win.”

Aberdeen took a deserved first half lead from a Nicky Devlin header. It was another goal from a set piece, something Jimmy sees as being hugely important this season.

“We work a lot on the set plays, both defensively and offensively and Peter and Greg and all the other guys who work with that are doing a really, really good job, as well as the players of course. Transition is something we want to bring in our identity too, and I think it’s showing game by game more and more and it’s a team transition. It’s not only one player, there’s a lot of players and they find good combinations.

“It is a new team also. It’s not easy for Gavin, Dimi, Sivert and Pete coming from outside into a really good team already, but how the players that were here last year and the new players interact is really nice to see. It seems like they played much longer together than they have, so I’m happy how the team spirit is and how they guide each other.”
One strong combination already is that between Graeme Shinnie and Sivert Heltne Nilsen in the centre of the park.

“Shinnie has been really good the whole season. He always has a big, big engine in his heart and he just keeps moving and running. I like his spirit and how he can take another step sometimes when we need it in the game. Shinnie and Sivert have two different ways in how they play but they work well together.”

Bojan Miovski made his first start of the season and was his usual handful for the St Johnstone defence, much to the manager’s delight.

“Bojan has been ready all the time, but we also tried to prepare the whole team. We don’t have any friendly games, we had the cup games. I think Ester and Pete were doing well and I already know what Bojan can do. He has been sharp in training. He’s been really, really focused and given a lot of positive energy in the locker room and on the pitch and in training. I think he showed today he’s here in his head and wanting to do really well for Aberdeen. He’s giving it 100% and he’s a really good player.”

There was a big travelling support in Perth and Jimmy was full of praise for the Red Army.

“I liked to have so many supporters from Aberdeen today. The atmosphere overall on the arena was really good. The emotions, how the supporters lived the game. It was loud, it was intense and also how we celebrated after the game. It was really nice. It’s a long-time project we are into and they know that and they support that and we’re going to need them in the tough times.”