No old pals' act from McDonald

Gary McDonald may have a soft spot for Kilmarnock and Jim Jefferies, the Rugby Park manager, but he will do his utmost to help his new club, Aberdeen, eliminate them from the Co-operative Insurance Cup in Ayrshire tonight.

The midfielder spent five years at Kilmarnock, where Jefferies gave him his first start when he replaced Bobby Williamson as manager and encouraged McDonald in his 114 appearances before the player moved to Oldham Athletic two years ago.

"Killie have done well," he said yesterday, "and Jim has strengthened the squad and, with a new contract for him and his assistant Billy Brown, there is stability at the club."

McDonald, who joined Aberdeen in the summer, is an admirer of several of the Rugby Park players and picked out David Fernandez, Danny Invincible and Mehdi Taouil. He admits that his side will have to be at their best defensively while looking for goals on the counter which, if their record so far this term is a barometer, is more suited to their style.

There have been suggestions that the players, under pressure from their own fans for their abysmal home form, prefer to work away from Pittodrie.

"I don't know if it is necessarily better that we're away from home," he added, "but our record is certainly better on the road this season. We have a 100% record away from home and we haven't conceded many goals, so we're confident we can do well.

"The fans have been frustrated, but so have the players. One point from 12 at home isn't good enough; we know that and we're going to have to improve on that.

"But the fans come along and pay their money and they are entitled to say what they like, and it is up to us to give them something to shout about, which we haven't done at home. Personally, I don't feel any difference, home or away. It's just not happening for us at Pittodrie."

Meanwhile, Jefferies permitted himself a wry smile at Gordon Strachan's claim that Old Firm players are treated differently from other players in Scottish football.

The Celtic manager claimed not enough had been made of the incident during his side's 3-1 win at Rugby Park on Sunday when Frazer Wright, the Kilmarnock defender, slapped Shunsuke Nakamura after the Japan internationalist was awarded what seemed to be a soft penalty after clashing with Craig Bryson.

Strachan claimed more would have been made of the incident if Wright had been an Old Firm player. Strachan said: "What surprisingly wasn't shown too often was Nakamura getting a slap on the head from one of their players. Now, trust me, if that had been a Celtic or Rangers player, it might even have made the front page of some of the tabloids, but it was kind of swept under the carpet."

However, Jefferies claimed that while Old Firm players do come in for more scrutiny off the pitch, their clubs often benefit from their status on the pitch. He said: "It's a storm in a tea-cup. I'm sure that over the years clubs outwith the Old Firm have been treated differently in other ways. I'm not talking about off the park, I'm talking about decisions on the park.

"There's no getting away from it, the Old Firm are high-profile and their players are high-profile. They are in a goldfish bowl in terms of everything they do on and off the park and they have got to live with it, but if you speak to the other clubs, I'm sure they will say they have been treated differently from the Old Firm on the park.

"I still think there was very little contact. You see Craig Bryson putting his arm out but if he had tugged his jersey, you would have seen that. But, as I said before, that's not an excuse for our defeat."

After successive losses to Rangers and Celtic, Jefferies believes his side will bounce back against Aberdeen.

"There's been no dent to our confidence," the manager said. "If the Old Firm play well then there's not a lot that you can do. They are bigger and stronger. I was happier with the way we played in the second half against Celtic and it was only a bit of brilliance from Georgios Samaras that got them the second goal. But one thing about our players, they never gave up, they kept battling on.

"We usually play well against Aberdeen, so we will be looking to get through to the next round and get a cup run going."

Probable teams Aberdeen Langfield; Foster, Diamond, Severin, Mulgrew; Young, McDonald, Kerr, Aluko; Miller, Mackie Kilmarnock Combe; Fowler, Ford, Wright, Hay; Bryson, Pascali, Taouil, Skelton; Invincibile, Fernandez