Leighton Clarkson was the player who spoke to the media on Friday ahead of the Dons William Hill Premiership against St Mirren on Saturday.
“It is a different team to the one that went down to St Mirren last season. That is in the past now. At the time we were going through a sticky spell and it was just one of those games that we could not see it out. Sometimes football is like that.
“We are going down there is a lot of confidence but we know it is a tough place to go, they have a very good home record. We know how they want to play – I have played against them enough times to know how their manager likes to play. It will be a really tough game.
“The good thing about this season, is that we have the squad depth. And it is just about individually playing as well as you can and trying to stay in the team. It is healthy competition, we are all best mates in there. We are happy for others if they are playing. I know that if I am on the bench one week then I know that I need to come on and make an impact and again that is something that has happened this year, the subs are making an impact in the majority, if not all of the games.
“As a player you want to be playing all the time. The more games that you play, the fitter you become and the more confident you are on the pitch. At the same time, we coming up to a really busy period at the moment and everyone in the dressing room is in great shape and performing well. It is tough for the manager when it comes to choosing who he plays, but we have 20 players who are going down to Paisley and if one person is not performing, we have someone else who can come in and do a job.
“The international break, sometimes you want that break to go back and see family and recharge, but we have been doing so well, you want the games to come thick and fast. From now until the next break in March, it is a very congested fixture list. All of us need to be ready for that.
“It is a big week, three away ties and three away ties that are never easy. But we just focus on the next game and going to St Mirren, to play a good side that are physical and aggressive. We have to try and take our confidence onto the pitch and hopefully get the three points.
“The manager has stressed the way he wants to play, and we are tweaking little things on the training pitch every week, depending on the opposition. But we have a philosophy, and we are not going to change the way we play for anyone really. It is just about being confident in the way that we want to play and try and impose that on the opposition.”
Photos by Ross Johnston/Newsline Media
