Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie is hoping the presence of new signing Sivert Heltne Nilsen can help him develop into more of a goal threat.
The 32-year-old midfielder has never been particularly prolific but marked his first outing of the new campaign by scoring in Saturday’s 3-0 Premier Sports Cup win at Queen of the South.
Shinnie, who has netted five times since returning to the Dons from Wigan 18 months ago, is intent on becoming more dangerous in the opponents’ box, and believes having new Norwegian anchorman Heltne Nilsen alongside him to hold the fort will allow him the freedom to get forward more often.
“I want to try and add more of it to my game,” Shinnie told Premier Sports.
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“Even though I’m getting older now, I still want to try and chip in with the goals.
“Siv’s come in and he’s a bit more defensive so I can push on a bit more knowing that he’s going to be covering in behind me, so maybe I can chip in with a few more.”
Saturday’s win at Queens, in which Ester Sokler scored a double, was Jimmy Thelin’s first competitive match in charge.
The Swede had some big calls to make as he left out Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes for disciplinary reasons after the striker did not report in time for pre-season training, while talisman Bojan Miovski was kept on the sidelines amid speculation linking him with a move to Bologna.
Shinnie admitted it has been an “intense” summer at Pittodrie as Thelin – who has recruited Dimitar Mitov, Gavin Molloy, Peter Ambrose and Heltne Nilsen – prepares his squad for the campaign ahead.
“With the manager trying to put his own stamp on how he wants to play in such a short space of time before the first competitive game, we’ve had to learn very quickly,” he continued.
“It will take time obviously as we go on but from the short time that we’ve had, the Queens game was a very good marker to start with.
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“There is that little bit in the back of your mind that knows the league form last year was not good enough and it’s something we want to rectify this season.
“But it’s a fresh era, a fresh start, a new season that will bring totally different challenges, and it’s one I’m looking forward to.”
