Anthony O’Connor

Anthony O’Connor on Sunday became the latest player to come off the bench and score for the Dons this season. After the game the Irishman spoke to RedTV:

“The gaffer always says that the strength that we have is not with the individual player, it is within the team as a whole and the squad. That is our strength. We have a great bunch of lads in the dressing room and we want to fight for each other every time we step onto the pitch and I think that shows every week. Of course we have our off days like last week against St Johnstone so we knew we had to put that right against Hearts.

“The manager pulled me aside at half time and said Peter is coming off. Can you go into midfield and do a job for me? I said of course. I will go out and do my best for the team. Obviously I am disappointed not to be starting the game and not to be playing in my favoured position which is centre half but I have responsibilities to perform and do well for my team which I will always try and do.

“I think everyone can see centre half is my natural position but as a player you sometimes have to play out of position. Today I had to come into the midfield and do a job. “I was very happy to score the winning goal. I just remember seeing the ball come into the box so I thought go and be aggressive and get your head on it. I managed to do that and got a good clean connection on it and thankfully the ball has landed up in the back of the net.

“It was a great ball in by Jonny.

“You know what you are going to get from Jonny Hayes every week. He gets at defenders. He has so much pace, he must terrify full backs. This season he has also added a lot more assists to his game. His final ball when he gets into the final third has been very good this season. He has picked players out from crosses and has also added a few goals as well. It is therefore not a surprise that he was nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award. He has had a fantastic season along with the rest of the team.

“The win was a massive step towards second spot. We are not mathematically there but with us nine points ahead and only nine points left to play for, and having the better goal difference, we are in a very strong position.

“Although people will be saying that is it done and dusted, that is not how the players and staff will be looking at it. We will be going into Friday night looking for a result, as we will be doing in the rest of the games. Even if it was mathematically secure we would still be going into the remaining games trying to win them.

“We can’t slacken off. I think it is important that we take some momentum from these last few league games into the cup final. We want to keep the confidence in our game. If we were to step off it now just because we feel we have secured second, and lost a couple of games, confidence might be affected so we need to try and get more wins.”

“We can’t slacken off. I think it is important that we take some momentum from these last few league games into the cup final. We want to keep the confidence in our game. If we were to step off it now just because we feel we have secured second, and lost a couple of games, confidence might be affected so we need to try and get more wins.”