There was an inevitable question after Hamilton Academical succumbed to Dundee's belligerence at the weekend:
will that defeat signal a downward spiral in the Lanarkshire side's form?
That they will be afforded an early opportunity for Hamilton to dismiss any concerns about their capacity to maintain a stirring start to the campaign when they face Aberdeen tomorrow night in the quarter-finals of the League Cup. That will likely be welcomed by Alex Neil, their manager, and his heroic side, who remain top in the SPFL Premiership table, albeit on goal difference.
Aberdeen have a score to settle following a humiliating 3-0 loss to Hamilton at New Douglas Park just 10 days ago and, while there are no claims from Pittodrie that revenge is on their minds, Aberdeen will not wish to lose their grip on the League Cup at the quarter-final stage of this season's competition.
Jonny Hayes, fast and energetic on the left flank for the Pittodrie side this season, believes that part of the reason for Hamilton's relative success is that their opponents are unfamiliar with them. He recalled how, while playing for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, rivals struggled against the Highland side soon after they were promoted to the top tier in 2010.
"When I came up to the top league with Inverness, teams figure you out and how you play only after the first dozen games or so," said the Aberdeen winger. "Teams are maybe still figuring Hamilton out. They've got some very good players and they are a young team, a very exuberant team, and they make it difficult for opponents to play against them.
"We were disappointed with our performance against them a week past Friday, although we can't take anything from how they played on the night. I think it was the worst we had played since Boxing Day a couple of years ago when we were beaten by Motherwell at Fir Park.
"But although Hamilton beat us 3-0 we could have scored three or four goals. It was our overall performance we were disappointed in."
Hayes is pragmatic in his approach to League Cup duty. While supporters and many within Pittodrie cling to memories of winning the trophy with a penalty shoot-out against Inverness last year, he chooses not to look too far into the future.
"If you get through on Wednesday night then the semi-final isn't until January," he said. "It gives you something to look forward to, though it would be hard to think about the semi-final. The games come thick and fast, especially around Christmas time and last November and December we picked up a lot of points and that'll be our aim over the next two months.
"The big games, like the League Cup semi and the final, are only good if you win. It's one game at a time. If you take your foot off the pedal in one tie, you're out."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article