Taylor insists there is more to come from Aberdeen
Aberdeen defender Ash Taylor insists the Dons have rediscovered their swagger ahead of the clash with Hearts.
The Dons, who welcome Ryan Jack back from injury, threw away their Ladbrokes Premiership lead as they stumbled to five defeats and a draw through late September and the whole of October.
It was an inexplicable run following a record-breaking start to the season which had seen them storm to eight straight top-flight victories.
Slowly but surely the Dons have managed to regain their confidence and last week's 2-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park was a third win in four for Derek McInnes' side.
They can now close the gap on frontrunners Celtic to just a point if they beat Hearts, although the Hoops will have two games in hand.
Centre-back Taylor admits he has no idea what sparked Aberdeen's sudden slump but he is just glad his side are once again walking with a confident stride.
He told RedTV: "We've got a bit of our swagger back. Now we've just got to maintain it and improve even more. I still think there is even more to come from this team.
"The way we bounced back from that poor spell shows a lot about our mental strength. We've got a lot of characters in that changing room and when you are going through the type of bad run we had, your togetherness becomes incredibly important.
"You are seeing that now we have come out the other side and have put in a couple of positive results.
"I don't think there was any reason for the run of results we had, it was just one of those things.
"We have not changed anything much or done anything differently from that spell to now. However, you don't want to have that horrible feeling you get in the dressing room after a defeat.
"Hopefully those days are behind us and I feel like we've come together even now as a group."
Hearts boss Robbie Neilson says his squad is nearing full strength ahead of the trip.
Winger Jamie Walker and striker Soufian El Hassnaoui - who has not played all season - have both returned to training following knee problems, although the former will not travel.
Billy King has also shaken off his own knee injury while skipper Alim Ozturk is closer to a comeback following hernia problems.
Neilson concedes it will be like men against boys when his young Jambos travel to Pittodrie. But the Tynecastle manager is confident his talented recruits have the quality to beat the Dons and close in on second spot in the Premiership, even if they lack in experience.
The last time the side's met, McInnes' side left the Gorgie support stunned with a 3-0 raid.
However, Neilson told HeartsTV: "We lost three bad goals in the first half and it killed the game a bit after that.
"But all in all there wasn't much in the game football-wise. We just need to prepare for their pace and power this time.
"They have got a very experienced team. Derek has put together a strong squad of international players and guys who have played 300 or 400 games in the top flight.
"It's something our young players don't have at the moment but we hope we can fast-track them to the level where we can compete against teams like Aberdeen.
"It's difficult, though, to substitute having played a couple of hundred games in the top division. We have guys who have only played 30 or 40 games in their career full-stop and even some of the foreign players we've brought in have only 10 to 15 games in Scotland under their belts.
"So it's difficult to mimic what Aberdeen have but I believe we have the players who if they handle the game and play the kind of football we want to can definitely win on Saturday."
Source: PAR
