Liam Scales insists a successful revenge mission against Dundee United can ensure Aberdeen sail into the World Cup break on a high.
The travel sick Dons are desperate to avenge last month’s Tannadice trouncing after slipping up on the road again on Tuesday at Livingston. But they’ve been red hot at home, winning five of their six league clashes at Pittodrie to sit in the Euro spots leading up to Saturday’s evening clash with the rock-bottom Terrors.
United hadn’t won any of their opening eight matches when Jim Goodwin ’s side visited Tayside five weeks ago. But they blitzed a shellshocked Dons 4-0 in a result that still rankles with the Red Army. And Scales said: “Do we feel like we owe them one? Definitely. It is a massive game for the fans, it’s like a local derby and we know how important it is. It will set the tone for the fans going into the World Cup break as there won’t be any league football for a few weeks.
“A win would leave a positive thing in their memory. Pittodrie is a bit of a fortress and we are scoring a lot of goals at home. The fans make a massive difference to us and it is a great place to play. A lot of teams don’t like going there and we want to continue our good home form. It’s a tough league and you wins games you maybe don’t deserve to and you lose others you maybe shouldn’t. If we are in the top few places, competing for Europe then that is success for us.
“We are still gelling and performances have been good in recent weeks but if we beat Dundee United it would be a successful start to the season.”
Aberdeen haven’t put three wins together in the league all season but victory on Saturday would see them sit eight points better off than the same stage last season. That’s despite defeat at Livi on Tuesday where a shocker of an opening 20 minutes saw the Dons fall 2-0 behind and it could have been worse as they struggled to handle Livi’s physicality in attack. But a change of shape at the interval saw Jim Goodwin’s side take control and end up unlucky not to take at least a point.
On-loan Celtic defender Scales insists they deserve to be sitting in the Euro spots. He said: “I think so. We have dropped a few points here and there so far. We conceded with the last touch of the ball at Ross County.
“We dropped points at Livingston but we are third and in the European places and that’s where we want to be. The second half was night and day. Livi started quicker than us and that’s our own fault.
“We didn’t deal with balls into the box or set-pieces and in the second half we changed shape and that helped. We need to regroup and focus on Saturday.”
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