As things stood on Saturday night this was a huge game. We were going into it still needing a point to make us safe, but on the back of a result and performance that made the prospect of getting it anything but straightforward. A win for Dundee against the Dons seemed a certainty, but thankfully for us Aberdeen got a point to render this game meaningless. Yes, we still have an outside shot at finishing a few places up the table but I'm not particularly concerned about that. We've finally been able to relax this week and not put up with any of John Brown's drivel. Well, he has still been talking nonsense but for once it hasn't been aimed at us.
Despite things finally being resolved, we could do with ending our poor run of form. We haven't won in the league since the end of February and we haven't managed a Saturday league win since we faced Dundee at the end of November. Aberdeen haven't won away all year, but we're usually only too happy to help out in situations like that. What we do need to do is be switched on right from the start and not start performing after the first half. That's been our problem lately and we can't do it again. We must go at Aberdeen the way Hearts came at us. Do that and we should hopefully get a decent result to end our slump.
It wouldn't be a surprise to see a few changes for tomorrow now that hardly anything is riding on this one. Sander Puri has barely had a chance to do anything since he signed and if he doesn't play tomorrow we can assume he's getting binned in the summer. Dougie Imrie and Jon Robertson have also been missing games lately so could be handed starts, while it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see goalie Grant Adam given his debut - especially if Craig Samson is on his way in the summer. However, it would also be nice to see the likes of Samson and the other likely departures - such as Esmael Goncalves, Paul Dummett and Conor Newton - play at some point so we can give them a fitting send off after their League Cup heroics.
It would probably be wise to leave Steven Thompson out of the side as the general thinking is he's only a booking away from missing the start of next season through suspension. Kenny McLean will definitely be out tomorrow as he's banned, but we will have Jim Goodwin back from his suspension. Sadly, Darren McGregor, Thomas Reilly and David Barron are all too far from fitness to be given a morale boosting game, but it would be nice to see some of the youngsters - such as Jack Smith and Kieran Doran - involved at some stage.
With the demise of Rangers second place in the SPL was up for grabs this season. Many Aberdeen fans and media people seemed to think their side would be in the running for that slot. Quite what that was based on I have no idea - they've spent the last few years kicking about the bottom six and hadn't exactly made great strides over the summer. Sure enough, despite a half decent start, they once again find themselves in the bottom half of the table. That pretty much cost Craig Brown his job, the fans finally growing tired of his dull style of football and constant excuses about injuries. Derek McInnes, who Bristol City got shot of earlier in the season, replaced him and it should prove to be a good move after what he did with St Johnstone. Giving him the job with a few months of the season left was also a sound piece of his business as he can decide who he wants to keep and who to ditch.
One player McInnes will definitely want to keep hold of is Niall McGinn. It would be a surprise if there wasn't interest in the forward over the summer, considering he has hit 22 goals this season - including the one that sent Dundee down last week. Not bad for someone who was forgotten about at Celtic and was a winger before Brown spotted something no one else could see, turning him into a striker and a player of the year candidate. If they hadn't had him then they'd probably have been in relegation trouble - although you could say that about Hibs and Leigh Griffiths. Even if McGinn does stay put, McInnes needs to find some new forwards in the summer. Scott Vernon hasn't enjoyed a particularly good season while Josh Magennis and Rory Fallon, who is suspended tomorrow, haven't done particularly well either and it wouldn't be a surprised to see at least one of them booted in the summer.
In fairness, they might have got on a lot better had there been a bit more creativity in midfield. Johnny Hayes was brought in during the summer in a bid to fix that and while he has managed to provide some width and a few goals. The problem is the rest of the midfield seems to be full of players who can be relied on to put in a good shift without doing anything spectacular. The likes of Gavin Rae, Stephen Hughes, Robert Milsom and Isaac Osbourne all fit into that category. Chris Clark did score against us when Aberdeen cruised to victory in Paisley earlier in the season but it seems he's not particularly well thought of by the Pittodrie faithful. Peter Pawlett did provide Aberdeen with a goal last week thanks to his blatant dive – but as the resultant penalty kept us up I'm not going to be too critical! He's subsequently been banned for that, meaning we can't thank him for his efforts.
While the goals haven't exactly been flowing, they haven't been flying in at the other end either. Russell Anderson is fully fit now and a consistently solid performer, with Mark Reynolds doing a fine job beside him. Unfortunately, Andrew Considine is missing after breaking his leg, while Gary Naysmith has had injury problems for much of the campaign. At least goalie Jamie Langfield is over his health issues. Youngster Joe Shaughnessy seems to have made the step up to first team regular with ease and isn't the only handy young prospect at Pittodrie, with Clark Robertson and Ryan Jack doing a job in defence and Cammy Smith looking bright up front. With this game effectively meaningless for the Dons it wouldn't be a surprise to see McInnes blood a few other youngsters as he sizes things up for next season, midfielders Craig Storrie and Nicky Low seeming to be highly rated.
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