FOR someone closing in on a 30-goal season and who has been compared favourably to some seriously good strikers of the past, Aberdeen's Adam Rooney has a decent line in self-deprecation.

Only last week, Willie Miller of all people, claimed the Irishman was on another level even from 'King' Joey Harper and Duncan Shearer, two Pittodrie legends who scored for fun in their heyday.

"Willie must have been drunk when he said that," said a smiling Rooney who looked a tad awkward at the mention of Miller's comments. "I think Barry Robson also compared me to Ally McCoist and he got stick for that.

"Terry Butcher used to compare me to Ian Rush when I was at Inverness and I got stick for that, too. I think I've been compared to everyone apart from Gary Doherty, who is the only one I look like."

Rooney is a decent sort and a fine footballer. Perhaps not at the level of Ian Rush, but he will finish top-scorer in Scotland this season, will most likely hit the 30-goal mark and is one of four nominees for the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award.

The 27-year-old boasts an average better than a goal ever three games over his career, but this campaign has been his zenith. Rooney is quick to praise his team-mates, but it is he who has stuck the ball in the net 27 times so far.

Rooney said: "The season has gone really well. I've managed to score a fair number of goals and the lads have created a lot of chances for me. My target is to get as many goals as possible and I'm only three away from 30 now, so it would be nice to get there.

"I wasn't aware until you told me that I'd only be the sixth player in Aberdeen's history to do it - so thanks for the pressure! It would obviously be a great accolade to get.

"Why has it gone so well? Confidence has been high. I managed to get a few goals in the Europa League at the start of the season and it's just gone from there. When you get a few early in the season, it helps a striker because that's what you thrive on."

An interesting statistic that may have passed some, although perhaps nobody in the North East, is that Aberdeen have taken more points from the other 10 teams than Celtic.

The Parkhead men enjoy an eight-point lead over Aberdeen thanks to the fact that Celtic have won all three games against their nearest rivals this season.

Rooney said: "We are only eight points behind Celtic at this stage of the season when most teams would expect to be at least 30 points behind them. It's just down to the job the gaffer [Derek McInnes] and Tony Docherty have done. They have brought a lot of quality into the squad.

"I don't think we've lost to anyone other than Celtic in the league since October, which is such a great achievement. The disappointment has been in the cups - losing to Dundee in the Scottish Cup when we dominated the game and to Dundee United in the League Cup semi-final when we had a goal disallowed which, looking back, should have stood.

"Take those out and we've been very consistent. Even against Celtic when we were tonked 4-0 in the end, it was more down to us trying to chase the game."

The 2-1 game at home before that was a difficult one. They scored in the last minute after the ball went out for a corner that was never a corner. That was obviously a massive turning point. But the consistency we have shown against everyone else has been great."

In recent times stability has been a problem. Previous regimes at Aberdeen have built up a decent squad, only for half-a-dozen to leave every summer because they could earn more money in England's lower leagues.

That has changed. Aberdeen are now signing some of the league's best players, Graeme Shinnie of Inverness will join next season, and at the same time retaining the talent already at the club.

Rooney said: "There is stability and we keep adding quality, like Kenny McLean, so you can see the club is ambitious. If we add another couple to the squad we have this summer, then I'm sure we can keep improving.

"Graeme was a young lad when I was at Inverness. The club didn't use me at all to persuade him to come - I don't like him! Seriously, I got on well with him but I haven't spoken to him about the move. It's a great signing for us."

Shinnie will be a good signing, although it is going to take something to overshadow the prolific Rooney. Such strikers don't come along too often, certainly not at Aberdeen.