Neale Cooper: ‘Aberdeen can win Scottish Premiership’

“The end of the game was very disappointing”.

“But it’s very early to talk about winning and losing the league”. They are legends around the club and even when we won the League Cup in 2014, people were still talking about the Eighties team.

“The tempo of our play got better and better, and that’s the strength of Aberdeen as well”.

Adam Rooney (right) celebrates his goal.

“For us, it’s three points but there’s no point in doing that and then not winning the game on Tuesday against Hamilton“.

“I think we had to do it the hard way but we got our just reward for that”, said McInnes, whose side’s title challenge last season was derailed by four defeats to Celtic.

Rooney was adamant that record against the Scottish champions had not damaged confidence.

‘Last year, Aberdeen were number two so, of course, they’re a good team, ‘ said Deila. “Now we start in September”, he said. Thankfully we have done that. After equalising, the sending-off killed our momentum but we dug in and managed to get the victor.

Jonny Hayes was controversially sent off in the 72nd minute but Derek McInnes’ side did not give up on the game and Paul Quinn tapped home the victor after 85 minutes to send the sold-out Pittodrie home crowd wild.

Rooney revealed his manager would not be content to bask in the afterglow of this win. “He wants to win every game”.

“It was important that we got the result, rather than the performance today”. The mentality is getting stronger with the calibre of player coming in. ‘They will be fighting for the title this season but there is a long way to go.

“We are always confident going into any game”.

“It adds bit more belief into the squad that we can match them and take points off them”. We know Celtic are good but we have players who can hurt anyone. But that’s all it is, it’s just a start.

This Aberdeen side has shown once again they are not daunted by the heady achievements of Sir Alex Ferguson’s great teams of the past. But he has shown his instincts remain as sharp as ever this season with his hat-trick against Hamilton taking him to six goals for the campaign. That also augurs well for the future.

Some pundits have claimed Aberdeen have a mental block when it comes to Celtic – but that’s not an accusation you can point at Shinnie.

But the Parkhead club’s problems run deeper than that.

He was part of a Caley Thistle line-up which registered two victories and a draw against the Glasgow giants last term and plans to take the same approach when he faces them with his new side.