Aberdeen midfielder Jonny Hayes is determined to improve his goals contribution at Pittodrie.
The Irishman ended his drought in front of goal when he scored in the 2-0 win against Dundee United on November 7. The goal was his second of the season and his first since he netted against HNK Rijeka in the Europa League on July 23.
The former Caley Thistle player knows scoring is an area of his game he needs to improve on, but hopes the high tempo of the game against United can lead to him finding the net on a regular basis.
He said: “I used to score a few goals a few years ago and it’s an aspect of my game the manager wants me to work on.
“It was a good team performance against Dundee United and we’ve got good quick attacking players.
“We’re a lot better when the tempo is high and Willo Flood set the tone for that from the start in midfielder.
“We’ve been missing that the last few weeks so hopefully that’s here to stay.”
The Aberdeen players worked through the last international break to try to improve their form which dipped so dramatically after eight successive wins to open the season, but manager Derek McInnes opted to let his squad recover from a busy start to the campaign last week.
The chance to take a break has been welcomed by the squad but having played a key part in ending the six-game winless run Hayes is determined to build on the win when the players return to the Premiership next weekend against Hamilton Accies.
He said: “Last month wasn’t great as the results went against us but thankfully we’ve got good characters in our team and the strong spirit has helped us get through the difficult run.
“The manager has also been good. He’s great at giving players confidence and belief and that hasn’t changed despite the run we were on. We didn’t get carried away when we were winning and we haven’t let ourselves get down during the bad run.
“It’s only November but it feels like it has been a long season already so the chance to recharge the batteries and come back in has been good for us. Hopefully we can carry on where we left off when we travel to Hamilton.”