FOR just a moment, Derek McInnes forgot he was an articulate, thoughtful football manager and lapsed into the Paisley vernacular.

As the great and good of the Scottish Press Pack tried in vain to get the Aberdeen manager to say his team could win the league after Wednesday night's deserved win over Celtic, McInnes is way too clever not to avoid that one, it was then put to him that there will be some who believe this talented team will fall short, be it because they can't handle the pressure, Celtic will prove good enough to finish the job or, simply, because the best team to come out of Pittodrie in 25 years isn't quite good enough.

"None of YOUS actually believe we can win it," said McInnes to the assembled fourth estate, before quickly returning to the subject of consistency and the lack of credit given to his players.

He was wrong. Plenty of folk, in the media or otherwise, believe this Aberdeen team can pull off one of the great shocks our game has ever seen and win this championship, some 31 years since Willie Miller held aloft the league trophy in the North East. I included myself in that number.

McInnes has a problem, albeit a welcome one. No longer are Aberdeen viewed as plucky underdogs, deserving of praise for finishing best of the rest and giving Celtic a run for their money, which they have pots of in comparison to the rest, but they are now genuine title contenders and, indeed, there will be some supporters who see this is more or less a one-off chance for their team to win the league.

That brings it's own pressure, much more than this group of players had to cope with previously, and it will be fascinating to see if and how they deal with it over the remaining 14 league matches.

A point McInnes made late on Wednesday night was that for the football people of Aberdeen, this season and the last one have been the first in an age when supporters actually expect to win most weeks. That in itself is a feat. To then take that onto being three points behind a side with so many advantages, although it's important to note Aberdeen have a decent budget themselves, is some achievement.

What should be worrying for Celtic is that if they are waiting for their rivals to stumble, such a misstep has already happened. Twice.

Through September and October, Aberdeen dipped rather spectacularly. They took one point from a possible 15, thanks to losses including a comprehensive defeat to Celtic in Glasgow and a 5-1 humiliation at home to St Johnstone. Then over the festive period, two draws, both at home, to Inverness and Partick Thistle, was hardly the form of potential champions.

To put it bluntly, Aberdeen should be nowhere close to Celtic. That they are is incredible. Ronny Deila will hope his rivals suffer a third bad period. But is that really going to happen?

Another positive aspect for McInnes is that most of his key players are fit and in form. At no time this season has Deila being able to make that claim. It's far from the case right now

So now comes the expectation. Aberdeen can move level on points with the leaders by winning against St Johnstone in Perth on Saturday and McInnes knows people will be quick to call them out if they fail.

They have four away games in their next five. Should Aberdeen emerge from that tricky run of fixtures at least within three or four points off Celtic, surely all the doubters will be silenced.

"It will be 'Aberdeen, they can't win this one, what's the point of winning that one," said McInnes as he looked forward to this weekend. "So we have got to make sure we are ready for it. St Johnstone are difficult opponents and it's never easy at McDiarmid Park.

"The (Celtic) game took a lot out of us and we have to use our time wisely and recover. But there will be 3000 Aberdeen fans there, at least, expecting another performance, and hopefully we can deliver it. The pressure comes to the next game now and the focus goes on that."

McInnes isn't fooling anyone. He believes Aberdeen can do this, so do the players and increasingly a support who must have given up on such fantastical dreams.