Aberdeen V Hamilton at Pittodrie Stadium : Match Preview

14 September 2015 17:01
Aberdeen V Hamilton - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Ash Taylor: Win over Celtic has given Aberdeen belief

Defender Ash Taylor admits Aberdeen's victory over Celtic was a major psychological boost - and he is looking to follow that up by stretching their lead at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table.

The Dons lost all four games against the champions last season but drew first blood this season thanks to their 2-1 victory at Pittodrie on Saturday.

Aberdeen are looking to extend their best start to a league campaign to seven consecutive wins when they host Hamilton on Tuesday night - and stretch the gap at the summit to five points in the process.

Speaking of their late win over Ronny Deila's side, Taylor said: "It was massive because we put in the performances against them last season and didn't manage to get the results against them. It was important to get the points.

"It adds bit more belief into the squad that we can match them and take points off them."

When asked about their title prospects, Taylor said: "I think it's a bit early to talk about that. We are only a few games into the league.

"But we are in good form and have made a good start to the season. But that's all it is, it's just a start. It's the same three points against Hamilton and that's our focus, we have to go into the game with the same focus as we showed against Celtic.

"It's massive for us to get an extra three points on Celtic and put us further ahead.

"We want to keep the run going as long as we can. It's going to be a difficult game because we are doing so well and they want to be the team that beats us. But we have to focus on what we are doing and what the manager wants us to do."

Aberdeen will have Jonny Hayes available in lieu of his appeal hearing following his red card for a sliding challenge on Celtic right-back Mikael Lustig.

And manager Derek McInnes is confident they will be successful in overturning Craig Thomson's decision.

McInnes said: "Having seen the incident again, I don't even think it's a foul. I think he's won the ball."

Meanwhile, Hamilton player-manager Martin Canning has targeted victory against the Ladbrokes Premiership leaders when they travel to face Scotland's form team.

Accies' three-match winning run in the league came to an abrupt halt on Saturday with a 4-1 defeat by St Johnstone.

But Canning's team had netted nine goals in the previous three Premiership games against Dundee United, Inverness and Hearts and they will go to Pittodrie aiming to cause the home defence problems.

Canning told his club's official website: "Obviously it's a big game, we knew before Saturday's game that it was a going to be a big game as well.

"They are all hard games, there are no easy games and obviously they will be flying just now as well, having beaten Celtic, so it will be a difficult task.

"But we'll prepare as we always do and we'll go up and try to win the match as we always do."

Midfielder Chris Turner (knee) is pushing for a return but defender Michael Devlin (ankle) remains out.


Source: PAR