Aberdeen defender Graeme Shinnie believes young midfielder Craig Storie played an instrumental role in the midweek 2-1 win against Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic.
Storie was making only his third start of the season but relished the chance to lock horns with Celtic’s central midfield duo of Nir Bitton and captain Scott Brown.
Shinnie, who captained the Dons in the absence of the injured Ryan Jack, was delighted with the manner the 20-year-old rose to the challenge in the biggest game of his career to date.
He said: “I thought he played really well.
“Craig was breaking up a lot of the play with Kenny McLean. He didn’t let Celtic get into a rhythm. He has not had a lot of experience and Aberdeen is a massive club.
“I came through the ranks at Inverness and we had some big games there but the expectation probably wasn’t as high as it is here.
“Craig deserves huge credit for playing as well as he did.”
Another of Aberdeen’s star performers against the Hoops was Jonny Hayes, who scored a sublime opener. The attacking midfielder was playing despite having required 18 stitches after being bitten by a dog.
Shinnie said: “It’s the same old Jonny. I must admit when I first heard the story I thought it was a joke but he’s fine, although he had to have a few stitches which took him out of training for a couple of days.
“I thought he played very well and his direct running was different class and caused Celtic problems. I thought he was really good.
“When I was out there I thought the shot for his goal had actually gone past the post until the crowd went up and cheered and I realised it was in.
“He loves a good goal against Celtic and his general play was really good. The dog bite clearly didn’t do him any harm on the evidence of his performance. Luckily the bite wasn’t on his foot and it was on his hand.
“I didn’t actually see his arm until it was all bandaged up and whatever else. I live near Jonny and I’ve actually been out dog walking with him on numerous occasions but, luckily, I wasn’t out with him this time.
“It was just a freak accident and because Jonny is the same size of the dogs I think he decided to get in the middle of them. Maybe you could say he took his frustration out on Celtic and if that’s what happens then I’ll take my dog round to bite him every week.”
Shinnie says it is vital the Dons don’t allow their standards to slip when they head to Perth this weekend to take on St Johnstone.
He said: “The Celtic game took a lot out of the legs. We aren’t looking at the St Johnstone game as a chance to go level on points with Celtic, we are just focusing on it as a game we want to win. If we perform as well as we did against Celtic then I am sure we can get the win.”