Lewis Ferguson produced the winning goal for the Dons to end Hearts’ 11 game unbeaten run from the start of the season and, more importantly, to ensure Aberdeen took seven points from what had looked a very difficult week of fixtures against Hibs, Rangers and Hearts.
It completed a week in which he Dons have turned their fortunes around, everything feeling very different now to how things were when they came off the pitch after losing at Dens Park a fortnight ago, as Lewis admits
“We were rock bottom after Dundee, everybody was low on confidence. We weren’t good enough and something had to change. I think when you face the opposition we’ve had in the last week, sometimes that’s a blessing, they came at a good time for us because the big occasions take care of themselves.
“They are all sides that are looking to win the game and it makes for a different kind of game, which maybe suited us. As it is, we’ve had a really good week but now we need to produce these performances in every game, that’s the real test.
“Today, we found two good finishes and they needed to be with the way their goalkeeper played. It was a good all-round performance after the break that deserved the win.
“The first half, I thought we were just cancelling each other out, so it was frustrating to be a goal behind. There was a lack of quality from both sides at that stage, but they got a penalty from the only time we were under a bit of pressure.
“Second half, we upped the standard, we brought Scott into the middle of the park which freed things up a little bit for us and we responded by getting the goals that won the game.
“For my goal, the delivery from Dylan was absolutely spot on, right on the money, the same as midweek. When the delivery is that good, it makes it so much easier because you just need to guide it on target, the pace is already on the ball. We spend a lot of time with Allan doing set pieces, we got through them on video as well, and that’s paid off for us on the pitch.”
Lewis also paid tribute to the part the Red Army paid in helping the side chisel out the win.
“When you’re a goal down here, if you get an equaliser, this place erupts and opposition teams really do feel that. We grew from the moment Marley scored and then after I scored, I felt we saw the game out quite comfortably. The crowd really helped.”
