Aberdeen boss Barry Robson is confident his new look defence is starting to gel after ending a clean sheet drought.
In defeating Ross County 4-0 the Dons delivered a first shut-out since the opening game of the campaign.
Robson rebuilt his rear-guard during the summer transfer window and retained faith in a back three.
Finally after a run of conceding in eight consecutive games the new look back-line delivered a clean sheet against the Staggies.
The defeat of Ross County was only the third match the defensive three of Stefan Gartenmann, Slobodan Rubezic and Richard Jensen had played together.
All three were signed in the summer from overseas clubs.
Robson said: “They are good players who want to defend and want to keep clean sheets.
“It is evident they are starting to gel.
“You also saw that on Thursday night (v Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany).
“Structurally we were good against Ross County and also against Eintracht Frankfurt.”
Robson faced McGarry injury sweat
The defensive trio e of Gartenmann, Jensen and Rubezic helped Aberdeen secure a first Premiership win at the sixth attempt when overcoming Ross County at Pittodrie.
Danish centre-back Gartenmann was secured on a season long long on transfer deadline day from Danish club FC Midtjylland.
Jensen, a Finnish international, joined the Dons late in the window on a three-year deal from Polish side Górnik Zabrze for an undisclosed fee, understood to be £400,000.
Serbian Rubezic joined from FK Novi Pazar (Serbia) in late July on a three-year deal for a for a fee of around £200,000,
On a day of positives for Robson there was one set-back as left-back Jimmy McGarry was forced off injured after only six minutes.
Robson confirmed the New Zealand international will undergo a scan on a suspected hamstring injury.
McGarry was signed late in the summer window from Australian A-League champions Central Coast Mariners.
Robson said: “We think it is his hamstring although we are not sure.
“He will have to go and get a scan then we’ll see.
“Is it sitting about with travelling and other things? Maybe
“We freshened him up for Sunday as he came in to start the game against Ross County.
“We always planned on that.
“It is a sore one for the kid as we didn’t get him in until late and then we had to work with him to try to give him a mini pre-season.
“Then this has happened so it is really frustrating. He is a great kid.”
‘Duk has given everything he has’
As the rebuilt defence showed signing of gelling against Ross County striker Duk also ended his goal drought.
Cape Verde international Duk netted his first goal of the season when scoring the Dons’ second against Ross County.
It ended a 14 game run without scoring dating back to April.
Robson was delighted the 23-year-old finally netted this season and revealed Duk has been “giving everything” to rediscover his scoring form.
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuukkkkkkkkkkkkkk#StandFree pic.twitter.com/Oay2sILGEu
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) September 25, 2023
He explained: “Duk’s contribution has been great all the time.
“With the stats his high speed running has been through the roof in every game we have played.
“Duk has given everything he has.
“Sometimes it’s not easy to score goals and that is why it’s really hard to come by these types of players.
“We support Duk, we back him and we help him.”
Robson targets Hampden semi slot
Aberdeen have successfully negotiated one phase of a double header against Ross County.
The Dons must now play the Staggies again in the League Cup semi-final in Dingwall on Wednesday.
Robson said: “We have a big cup game on Wednesday night and need to make sure we stay in the tournament.
“On top of that we also have European group games and the league as well.
“We are fighting on all fronts now and have to do all we can to keep performing and improving.
“Hopefully we can perform well in all of these competitions to get to where we want to get to.
“Let’s see if we can start moving up the table and get into the next round of the cup.”
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