Mark Reynolds believes familiarity is breeding success at Aberdeen.
The Dons made it six clean sheets in 12 matches in all competitions when they beat Dundee United 1-0 in the Scottish Premiership last Saturday.
Reynolds, pictured, has been at the heart of all six and the former Motherwell defender believes the consistency of selection has been key.
Niall McGinn, Barry Robson and Willo Flood have all missed matches, but manager Derek McInnes has been able to choose a settled defence.
Reynolds, captain Russell Anderson, Michael Hector, Andy Considine, Joe Shaughnessy and Clark Robertson have provided the defensive platform in front of goalkeeper Jamie Langfield and Reynolds believes the benefits are being shown by the results.
He said: “The familiarity and the consistency of selection is massive and people grossly underestimate how important that is. Look at Motherwell. They’ve done well in recent years as they have had very few injuries to deal with and their team is pretty similar week in, week out.
“We’ve suffered injuries this season, but defensively it hasn’t been too bad.
“In the past we’ve had to chop and change due to injuries, but we have been lucky in that we have had a consistent back four.
“Myself, Michael Hector, Joe Shaughnessy and Clark Robertson have played in most of the games so there is a consistency there between us.
“Russell Anderson and Andy Considine are senior, experienced players who I’ve played with for more than 40 games so we know each other’s game. When they come in the understanding is still there.”
The Dons have collected 17 points from their opening 10 games in the Scottish Premiership and are in fourth place, two points behind Caley Thistle and Motherwell.
McInnes and his players have been tipped to finish best of the rest this season.
The same predictions were made last season before the Dons finished in the bottom six of the SPL – for the third year in a row.
Reynolds and his team-mates know better than to pay heed to outside predictions, but with confidence growing at Pittodrie the defender is in confident mood as his side prepares for Saturday’s trip to Hibernian.
He said: “Every week is going to be a hard game but going away from home makes it a little better as the onus is on the home side to come at us. But all we are worrying about is ensuring the right Aberdeen team turns up and goes at it for 90 minutes.”