Aberdeen have found the back of the net only five times in five Scottish Premiership matches this season, but manager Derek McInnes remains confident his side contains enough firepower to get the campaign back on track.
The Dons are ninth in the table after taking just six points from a possible 15 following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by champions Celtic at Parkhead.
But McInnes believes that with David Goodwillie, Adam Rooney and Niall McGinn in his squad, there are enough goalscorers to ensure another successful season at Pittodrie.
Dundee United and Celtic are the league’s leading-scorers with 12 apiece while St Mirren have only scored one goal this season.
The Aberdeen manager was particularly pleased to see former Blackburn Rovers and Dundee United forward Goodwillie get off the mark with a consolation goal against the Hoops in his eighth appearance for the Dons.
He said: “I want all our forwards to be contributing.
“I think that is only David’s fourth start and he got the goal he had been waiting for.
“We know he is the type of player who is capable of scoring goals.
“I am pleased with the attacking threat we have got and, with McGinn, Goodwillie and Rooney, we have three players who are very capable of hitting the back of the net. David will be pleased with his goal and hopefully that gives him a boost for the coming games. I have always felt there are goals in our team and we have a competitive edge to our play which always keeps us in matches right until the end.”
A different challenge awaits the Dons this weekend with the visit of a Ross County side which has lost all six of its opening Scottish Premiership matches and has gone through a change of management – with former Aberdeen midfielder Derek Adams sacked earlier this month and replaced by Jim McIntyre, who left Championship club Queen of the South to move to Dingwall.
It is the first of four successive home matches for the Dons – a series McInnes hopes will – spark an upturn in fortunes for his side. But the Aberdeen manager is refusing to take the struggling Staggies lightly. McInnes added: “Regardless if a team is in good form or struggling for form, it has always been about our performance for us.
“We concentrate on that. We have players who can cause problems and we just have to focus on getting enough good individual performances to ensure we play as well as we can as a team.”