DURING last week's convincing 3-0 victory away to Partick Thistle, the thoughts of Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager, might not have dwelled too long on his star striker sitting in the stands.

Tomorrow, though, he might be bemoaning the loss of Niall McGinn if the Northern Irishman - injured on international duty - fails a late fitness test. After all, the opposition, a table-topping Inverness Caledonian Thistle, have a forward of equal stature.

Billy McKay has scored six goals already this season, continuing his terrific form from last season, and then some. "He's certainly a player who can capitalise on any half chances," McInnes said. "So we have to be fully concentrated against him. He has a proven strike rate in the league that speaks for itself but they have other goal threats from open play and set pieces that need to be taken care of. What we have to do is impose ourselves on the game and exploit areas we think we can get some joy from as well."

McInnes has been pleased with his own side's performances. He insisted that the defeat to Celtic at Pittodrie on the opening day of the season was the only game in which his side were beaten by the better team on the day. "We know we have been negligent in a couple of games," he admitted, "but over the piece in every game we have played apart from the Celtic one we have been the dominant team.

"We haven't always got the results we have deserved at times, by not taking advantage of that dominance. It was a good team effort against Partick Thistle last Saturday and it had to be as we were playing a team full of confidence. What we need is a repeat of that as we are now playing another side full of confidence who are sitting at the top of the league."

McInnes, who is hopeful Barry Robson will have recovered from his knee surgery in order to line up in midfield against his former club, also expressed admiration for the job Terry Butcher has done. He has been impressed with the way the Inverness squad has been carried along by their manager's enthusiasm.

"I worked closely with Terry for two years when we went through our pro licence together," he said. "He's always someone whose company I enjoy. You get to know people a bit better in circumstances like that and you can tell he is very passionate and thoughtful about the game.

"He had plenty of experience at the highest level as a player, of course, and to get his team to the top of the league is a great achievement so far. I'm delighted he's doing well and he will be itching to keep it going by setting about us, so we need to make sure that's not the case."

As for Butcher, mindful of the fact that Inverness played their home games at Pittodrie for half a season in 2004, he believes the club thrives on their trips along the A96. "Pittodrie has been a really good ground for us," he acknowledged. "We've won on the last two visits. The boys enjoyed an epic 3-2 victory down there last year after being 2-1 down so they have good memories of the place."

Despite there being no players remaining from their fleeting relocation some nine years ago, Aberdeen has remained something of a second home. "In the last seven matches we've played there, we've won four and drawn one, so we have a good record against them," Butcher explained. "It is a good test for us - probably one of our stiffest tests of the season. If you look at it, we've been away to Celtic and now we're playing a team with designs on second in the table. Derek McInnes has brought in good players this summer and structured his team well. They are missing one or two players but the ones who are in the team have done very well."

Despite not being at their best last week at Kilmarnock, Inverness escaped from the game with all three points. A similar performance might not be enough tomorrow, but Butcher is still happy to win ugly. "There are different ways to skin a cat and different ways to win football games," he said. "If we can win another one this weekend, I'll be delighted."