STEVIE May has called for his Aberdeen team-mates to keep their emotions in check when they go for another victory over Rangers at Ibrox tomorrow.
It will be the seventh meeting of the sides – one of which was a Scottish Cup-tie win for the Pittodrie side at Hampden last month – this season, fixtures that have been as newsworthy for their indiscipline as anything else having yielded five red cards.
May, keen for a start alongside in-form striker Sam Cosgrove, stressed the need for his team to keep a full complement of players on the pitch for the entire 90 minutes as they bid for a fifth successive Europa league qualifying place and to finish in third place in the league.
And he highlighted last week’s fiery fixture at Kilmarnock, a 1-0 win that finished with their opponents having had three players sent off, as something not to be repeated tomorrow.
"It's clear to see there are emotions that run high in these games against Rangers,” he said. “The Kilmarnock game last week was like that.
READ MORE: Steven Gerrard reckons Aberdeen raise their game more when they face Rangers
“You have to stay disciplined and not get involved more than you need to. Don't let your emotions get the better of you. We've done that well to an extent, but there are times when the boys will be disappointed with how they've reacted.
“It's important to keep 11 men on the park and a few of our fixtures have shown that, even in the last month.”
May has hardly set the heather on fire at Pittodrie since his £400,000 move from Preston North End in August 2017 when he signed a four-year deal, but he believes he can dovetail well with Cosgrove, the scorer of 20 goals this season, and is desperate to be involved in tomorrow’s action.
He said: "You have to have that understanding with another striker. Partnerships are important all over the pitch, not just up front.
“The pitch works a lot more in partnerships than you would think. I've been playing a little bit deeper than Sam, doing the dirty work, particularly in games against the likes of Rangers, but he's been flying this season.”
The Dons will be without injury-hit Niall McGinn, Gary Mackay-Steven, Tommie Hoban, skipper Graeme Shinnie and Greg Stewart, but manager Derek McInnes is aiming for a fourth win in Glasgow against Steven Gerrard’s men.
With the Ibrox club eight points clear, however, he admitted second spot is beyond his side.
“If we were sitting with the points that Rangers have got I would be pretty confident of securing second spot,” he insisted. “They have been very good of late. We always seem to play Rangers when they are in good form.
“They were free-scoring against Hearts last week and I wouldn’t expect them to drop the points we would need them to drop to give anyone else any encouragement.”
McInnes bemoaned the absence of Shinnie, meanwhile. The combative midfielder is expected to head for Derby County at the end of the season, but his manager hoped his captain would recover from his ankle injury and be fit to face Hibs at Easter Road in the final game of the campaign.
McInnes said: “The prognosis was that he will be out for four to six weeks. If you stuck to that rule of thumb then he will be out for the season, but Graeme is adamant he will be back for the Hibs game.
“I take encouragement from how he is feeling. He is just hoping to help our challenge before the end of the season and that task of trying to get into Europe.
“We have won games this season when he hasn’t been in the team, but he is normally at the heartbeat of all the good things we do.”
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