Supporters of Aberdeen and St Mirren can be forgiven for arguing that the Premiership clash between the sides at Pittodrie is of the day's most important game in the Premiership.

At such a crucial stage of the season, slips from either side will be viewed as drastic, the Dons fighting to keep league leaders Celtic in their sights and the Buddies knowing that the loss of any points will severely jeopardise their efforts to avoid having to participate in the end-of-season play-offs - or worse.

Mark Reynolds, who has captained Aberdeen this season in the absence of long-term injury casualty Russell Anderson, believes the cordial nature of the Pittodrie changing-room has been a key component in how well the team has performed as a unit.

It has clearly brought a consistency to his own play and one he hopes will once more catch the eye of Gordon Strachan, the Scotland manager who has featured him in his international squads a number of times, the last of which was for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Germany in Dortmund in September. A full cap, however, has still to follow.

"I have always said that I need to keep playing the way I can for Aberdeen and hopefully that's enough [to be called up].

"I was luckily enough to be involved and when you get there the players involved are good players.

"Thankfully for me, I never felt too far away.

"The worry is you go up there and play with them and think it is a step too far.

"But without wanting to sound arrogant or big-headed, I felt comfortable to play there and next to those guys and not look out of place.

"That is a nice feeling and it makes you feel better about yourself as a player.

"I am happy playing away and getting to see the way Gordon Strachan sets his team up and his philosophy for football has been a great learning experience for me.

"It would be great to get back in but if I don't then I will just keep playing away.

"The way football is, you get injuries and people pulling out.

"Gordon also changes the way he picks his team or squad for certain games.

"He might reckon the qualities I have got are better than someone he has been picking and he might draft me in for a game.

"I am quite happy and it is nice to be involved in a Scotland squad that is bursting with players who want to play as opposed to previous years when boys were getting drafted-in left, right and centre because boys were pulling out injured or weren't interested as there was no campaign to fight for.

"I just want to keep playing away and hopefully get back involved."

A greater sense of camaraderie within Derek McInnes's in-form side, which has produce a run of 12 league games without defeat, has aided their league challenge, Reynolds insisted.

"It is probably a bit different from previous squads," he added.

"We are all similar ages and a lot of the boys have kids growing up of the same age.

"We are all at a similar stage of our lives and doing similar things.

"We all get on very well; we meet up and go for dinner with our partners.

"It is a great changing room and everyone gets on really well."

A hamstring in jury to Jonny Hayes will probably pave the way for a start today for Willo Flood, just returning to action himself after a long lay-off with a hamstring problem.