NIALL McGINN believes Aberdeen can maintain a strong challenge for the Ladbrokes Premiership by fulfilling the task they have set themselves of winning every one of their remaining six fixtures.
The Northern Ireland internationalist was one of the goalscorers as the Pittodrie side defeated Hamilton Academical 3-0 at Pittodrie on Sunday to remain four points behind leaders Celtic, having played a game more.
He accepts they face a difficult task in travelling to third-placed Hearts on Friday evening and recognises Celtic have recovered from something of a wobble to string together a four-match winning streak.
However, McGinn retains unshakeable confidence in his own team and is sure they can make this excellent season even more special.
“Celtic got a good result against Hearts on Saturday and they seem to be back playing well again,” he said.
“We know if we keep playing the way we can, though, that we will win more games than we won’t. Certainly, if we play like we did in the first period against Hamilton, we can be capable of winning all our games.
“It’s in our heads to do that.
“Friday is going to be tough, but we have shown down there that we can win, although they also showed they can beat us as they did in the Scottish Cup when they won 1-0.
“Hearts are on our tails, but we are looking forward to this one.
“If we go there on Friday night and win, it probably does see them off but we will just concentrate on ourselves.
“We will continue to do what we have been doing.”
McGinn was thrilled by the displays of Kenny McLean and Jonny Hayes at the weekend and puts much of it down to the fact they have both been awarded international recognition recently from Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, respectively.
“Kenny and Jonny were both on a high after that and I thought they were excellent against Hamilton,” he said.
“Jonny is consistently using his pace and skills and he set up a great goal for Simon (Church) while Kenny grabbed a goal, too.”
Injuries to top scorer Adam Rooney and Peter Pawlett have left the Dons depleted in recent weeks, although both are expected to return to action after the 33-game split.
“It will be a massive boost,” said McGinn.
“Adam is a big miss with his goals, but Simon has stepped in and is scoring goals for us.
“Peter with his pace and attributesis always going to be a big player too.”
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