ADAM ROONEY might never find a permanent place in the hearts of Aberdeen fans of a certain vintage in the way “King” Joey Harper has but he’s on course to equal the legendary striker’s record of hitting twenty or more goals in three successive season.

Rooney hopes to continue his remarkable run against St Johnstone at Pittodrie today when one goal would put him on the twenty mark with four more Premiership games and a Scottish Cup final against Celtic still to come.

There might not be a specific plan ut there are targets, as he pointed out.

"The first aim is to get into double figures by Christmas then take it from there with 20 being the next target. Hopefully I get there sooner rather than later then grab a few more goals before the end of the season.

"Somebody told me the other day I would become the first Aberdeen player since Joe Harper to get 20 three seasons in a row so it would be nice to do that.

"I don't read too much into these sorts of things to be honest but it would be a good milestone to achieve.

"Obviously, the main aim in every game is to go out to score goals and if I don't manage it then I won't be happy regardless.

"I think the older you get the more experienced you become and you believe in yourself a bit more.

"So you don't worry about if you go through spells as a striker where you don't score every week.

"You know there will come a time when you score for five or six matches running so you just need to keep getting into the right positions to finish things off.

"Joe is always one of the first to come over and congratulate me on any of the achievements I've had with the club.

"I always see him around Pittodrie and it's great have someone who is such an Aberdeen legend around the place.

"I've only seen a few clips of him playing for Aberdeen but you just have to see his goal-scoring record to see what a great striker he was.”

Harper is still revered among the Aberdeen support and hit 20-plus strikes three seasons in a row from 1977 during his second spell at Pittodrie and scored a remarkable 125 league goals in 207 games in his two periods with the club.