Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes insists the Reds are a different animal from the one which exited the Scottish Cup after watching his side last night move three points clear in the race to be best of the rest in the Scottish Premiership.
The Dons have re- sponded strongly to their Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Motherwell by taking maximum points from their last two Premiership matches with last night’s 2-0 win against Hearts at Pittodrie coming after a victory at Kilmarnock last weekend.
The Dons boss believes the return of Graeme Shinnie, Kenny McLean, Shay Logan, Gary Mackay-Steven and Niall McGinn, who all missed the defeat by Well, makes the Dons much more formidable opponents.
He said: “In our last game at Kilmarnock with Shinnie, Logan and McLean back we are a different animal. We had five players missing in the semi-final and I don’t think many teams can be the same level with that number out.
“When our forward players play to form and when our wide players produce what they did tonight we normally win games. Thankfully, Sam Cosgrove and Stevie May were a constant handful with their movement, size and presence, and I thought Mackay-Steven and McGinn imposed themselves on the game.
“It’s great to win the last two games 2-0 and when we have our key players back we are a tough team.”
McInnes was pleased to see his side gain a measure of revenge against Hearts after a poor display at Tynecastle this month.
He said: “Our intensity with and without the ball was clear from minute one. We passed up good opportunities to add to that, had 14 shots at goal and played with intelligence. We didn’t do that at Tynecastle but Shinnie, Logan, Mackay-Steven and McGinn were active wide and asked questions of Hearts.
“For a team renowned for not losing too many goals we created a lot of chances and scored two good goals.”
While McInnes was delighted to take all three points, Hearts manager Craig Levein struggled to comprehend his side’s poor showing at Pittodrie.
Hearts have had just one win in their last 12 away matches and Levein said: “It was a frustrating night and it puzzles me how our performance can be so different away from home. We’ve got Celtic next and I know we will be better, that’s the puzzling bit.”