It has taken him 11 years but Andrew Considine will officially join the 300 club at Aberdeen today.
The defender will make the landmark appearance for his hometown club when the Dons travel to Dundee United today and, having helped the Dons celebrate their best league finish in 21 years, Considine is hungry for more.
The Aberdonian, who is in his testimonial season with the club, has been a key member of the team which has pushed Celtic all the way for the Scottish Premiership championship this term and he believes Derek McInnes’ side is capable of challenging for the title on a regular basis.
He said: “People always write off teams other than Celtic in the race for the league title but it shows how well we’ve done this season by the way we’ve kept so close to them.
“We’ve quietly kept ourselves to ourselves and gone game by game and we’ve managed to be within touching distance of Celtic. It’s great for Scottish football to have that and it’s healthy for the game.
“The strength of our squad has shown that and I believe that with the strength of our squad we can really challenge Celtic for the top spot in the years to come.”
Celtic have beaten Aberdeen on all three previous meetings but when it comes to being best of the rest in the division the Dons have proven themselves to be in a class of their own.
An impressive run of 18 wins and four draws has been amassed in the last 22 games against sides below them in the division and Considine is in no mood to ease off at Tannadice today.
He said: “It’s 21 years since we last finished second in the league and, while we didn’t manage to reach a cup final, it’s still been a great year.
“I used to watch Aberdeen as a kid with my dad and I remember being at the 1995 League Cup final at the ‘old’ Hampden. It was a cracking occasion.
“We wouldn’t have believed that day that it would be so long until we won a cup again but even watching Aberdeen that day I never dreamt of pulling on a red jersey which is something special.
“Now to have a winners’ medal is something special and there are plenty more years left for me to win a few more.
“Keeping the nucleus of the team for such a long time has helped. Over the years we suffered so many injuries but now we have a solid squad with almost the same 11 going out on to the pitch every week. It has paid dividends.”
On today’s match at United, he added: “It’s a huge game to keep us within touching distance of Celtic.
“It always is a huge game against Dundee United, especially at Tannadice. We’ll have a cracking travelling support and this is another step towards us finishing the season so strongly.
“We look forward to the game against Dundee United hoping to keep our good run going.”
