Skipper Graeme Shinnie was full of praise for the character of the team after the Dons recorded a 2-1 win over Hearts at Pittodrie.

“Football is hard if you’re not winning games, criticism comes with it and you take it on the chin. Those are the times you have to show what you’re made of. The character of the squad came through today. Demands are high here, as they should be, and if you don’t win games, the atmosphere can be testing. Even today, it was a bit nervy but the boys stood up to it, turned it round and won the game, which was so important.

“We know we were poor on Wednesday, but we should have had a draw out of it at least, then we had a load of chances at Hibs last weekend. That could have been four points or more from those games where we ended up with nothing, and that’s been the story of the season a bit, which is frustrating. Today we really dug in, we showed real togetherness, backed up by the supporters, and finally we’ve got the result we deserved.

“They started ok in the first half but as the game went on, we put them under pressure and forcing them to knock the ball long just to alleviate the pressure. That was even the case in the last 15 minutes of the first half, then we came out fast at the start of the second half, it was a real team performance, we created a number of chances and we were delighted to get that win.

“I was pleased for the manager, for the supporters, for the club as a whole, but it’s just the first step. Now we need to put our foot down and keep going.”