Putting one over a couple of old team-mates is
motivation enough for Aberdeen striker Adam Rooney in this weekend’s Scottish Cup tie against St Mirren.
Former Don Cammy Smith has been a regular with the Buddies since his summer departure from Pittodrie and former goalkeeper Jamie Langfield is on Saints manager Jack Ross’ coaching staff.
Rooney has been keeping an eye on Saints’ progress after Smith’s move to Paisley and is hoping he can come out on top in Saturday’s fourth-round encounter.
He said: “I spoke to Cammy a couple of weeks back and he’s doing very well. They have some good players but I’m sure he’ll love to come back.
“I just wish Jamie was playing – it would be good to put a couple past him. I’ve been keeping an eye on how he’s going, they’re on a good run, they’re flying in that league.
“They play good football. I watched them a couple of weeks back against Dundee United on television and they played some good stuff.
“They have some good players, we are aware of that and we were working during the week on their threats.”
Saturday’s game is one of the more intriguing encounters, given how impressively the Saints have done so far in the Championship.
Ross’ men extended their lead at the top to eight points with victory against Dumbarton and look the favourites for promotion back to the top flight for the first time since 2015.
Aberdeen’s recent history in Scotland’s biggest cup competition is a painful one – their defeat in May’s showpiece last year came courtesy of a Tom Rogic goal with the last kick of the ball.
Former Caley Thistle and Birmingham City man Rooney is not getting carried away by dreaming of putting that one right but believes the Dons do need to be regular trophy contenders.
He said: “We were disappointed with the League Cup this year and obviously we want to go and try to put ourselves in a position where we can go and win the cup.
“We won’t look too far ahead. We know it’s a difficult game but, being at home, we are confident that we have the quality to go and do it.
“Both cups are big, we are Aberdeen – this is what we expect, we want to try and go to get to finals. We want to win them.”