Aberdeen defender Jonny Hayes insists the Dons are finding their rhythm after their battling display against Rangers.
Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with the champions at Pittodrie made it five wins and one defeat in the last six matches for Stephen Glass’ side and, with the Dons slowly reeling in the clubs above them, Hayes believes there is cause for optimism in the second half of the campaign.
He said: “We have to take the positives from the performance.
“For me, because we had wholesale changes in the summer across the club, it was going to take time to come together. We’re slowly but surely getting there.
“The fact we were 1-0 down at home to a good team, we don’t think ‘let’s keep it tight’, we go straight from the kick-off to try to win the game.
“There was character shown and it is something to build on.”
Disappointment at Pittodrie draw shows Aberdeen’s improvement
Hayes believes Aberdeen’s resilience after seeing a strong penalty appeal turned down seconds before Rangers broke upfield to take the lead shows how well the team played.
However, Hayes is frustrated his side’s efforts did not result in them taking all three points at Pittodrie.
He said: “We’re disappointed. I’ve been beaten at Pittodrie before and felt better. It was a big game against the league champions. They were at our place and we didn’t want to lose.
“We showed a bit of naivety when we conceded the goal. We lacked composure after a decision went against us, but we will learn from that.
“We had a solid base in the second half and got back into the game with the penalty. Even when it was 11 v 11, I felt we were the better team and the ones looking to go win the game, even more so when they went down to 10 men.
“We lacked a little bit of composure in the final third. We had some half chances and it is disappointing not to come away with three points.
“We knew Rangers would have possession at times as they have some very good players and we would have to defend well as a team.
“We managed to do that, pressed high, looked to win it high and had some near misses and a big decision go against us.”
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