They say revenge is a dish best served cold. Fortunately for Aberdeen’s avengers, the plate barely had time to cool.
The Dons suffered embarrassment the last time they took the trip to Tynecastle, suffering a 5-0 shellacking in January that contributed to Jim Goodwin losing his job. But just a matter of weeks later, new boss Barry Robson’s team gained redemption, hammering Hearts 3-0 at Pittodrie to further fuel their belief third place might not be out of the reckoning after all.
Today the two sides lock horns in Gorgie again in the Premiership game of the weekend. Liam Scales is adamant there is no talk of revenge but is hell-bent nonetheless on breaking Hearts all over again to all but seal the best-of-the-rest spot. He insists that horror show at the turn of the year has already been shown as an off-day. The Irishman said: “It is completely different.
“We are a different team now and a lot of things have changed. We proved that point when we beat them up at Pittodrie a couple of months ago.
“I don’t think that is really on the mind of anyone at the moment. We just know what is riding on this, which is a massive game. How? Well if we win we can finish third, that is the main motivation.”
Aberdeen went into the World Cup break in third place but an almighty collapse after the restart saw them drop 10 points behind the Jambos and saw Goodwin getting sacked. It came after a horror run where they were dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Darvel and hammered on both sides of the capital.
Third, at that point, looked like a long shot. Scales believes it shows the progress Aberdeen have made under Robson. He said: “At that time the only thing on our mind was trying to string a couple of results together to turn the form around.
“I don’t think we were thinking about finishing third or fourth. It was just about turning things around quickly. At that stage it would have been hard to imagine what has been a 15 point swing.
“I don’t think many people would have seen that happening. We have done really well since then and Hearts obviously went through a sticky spell like we did.
“I don’t think at the time we thought that far ahead – but we are here now.”
Scales was part of a defence in January that was leaking goals for fun. Goodwin already had a deal for Mattie Pollock lined up but his arrival along with Robson’s signing of fellow central defender Angus MacDonald helped to plug the gaps. The three at the back, along with Scales, is the defensive foundation that the recent revival has been built on.
“We started the season quite well with Jim and were enjoying it.” The Irishman claimed. Then we just went through a really bad spell. It was a really low time. A few fresh faces coming in and a few things changed that kick-started us.
“Then getting a few results gave us some confidence. I think the main difference was confidence when we were in that rough spell and losing games.
“I don’t think there was any confidence in the squad at all and now we have turned it around. We have gained confidence and momentum. We have shown we have the ability to finish high up the table.”
The former Shamrock Rovers star admitted it has been easy slotting in beside McDonald and Pollock. “It allows me to defend aggressively because I know I have the two of them to cover me,” Scales stated.
“It is the same with the two guys if they have to step in can because they will always have two to cover them. As a back three we work well as a unit and understand one another really well. It is going well.”
Aberdeen are keen to keep a hold of Scales but Ange Postecoglou wants him to return to Celtic for pre-season before any decision is made.
Scales said: “I will report back to Celtic in the summer for pre-season, that is what I am assuming will happen. I will need to go back there and discuss what plans they have for me.
"I am looking forward to taking a break in the summer and I don’t think I’ll be worrying too much about what the future holds when I’m off. I have really enjoyed it up here, I love playing here - it has been brilliant for me.
“But I can’t decide now what’s going to happen because I don’t know what’s going on between the clubs. I don’t know what Celtic have planned for me so there’s no point jumping ahead.”
