Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has praised Aston Villa target Joe Lewis for the way he has responded to last month’s Betfred Cup disappointment.
The Championship club sent former Manchester City and Manchester United goalkeeper Tony Coton to Easter Road to watch Lewis, who extended his Dons contract until 2020 in the summer.
Lewis impressed with his third consecutive clean sheet as the Dons kept pace with Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic thanks to a 1-0 victory against Hibernian.
McInnes has been delighted with the way Lewis has bounced back from last month’s 3-0 quarter-final defeat by Motherwell when the 30-year-old was culpable for the Fir Park side’s opening two goals during an uncharacteristically poor performance.
But McInnes expected nothing other than a positive response following that setback from Lewis, who has kept seven clean sheets in 15 matches this term, conceding only 13 times.
He said: “I wasn’t worried about that at all.
“Joe has played 68 games for us and we can only think of that game when he has dropped his standards. He has been excellent.
“Coming back from that game with three clean sheets and three winning performances was great for him and the team.
“Joe has been pretty quiet the last couple of games which is down to the good work from everybody in front of him.
“It wasn’t something I was overly concerned about to be honest.
“If he has one game like that every 60 games then we will take it.
“I am pleased for him.
“He is a huge player for us and has won us more points than he loses us.”
The Dons are without a competitive fixture this weekend but manager McInnes insists his players are working overtime to make sure they are ready to end Celtic’s long unbeaten record next Wednesday.
The Hoops, who lost 3-0 Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, are unbeaten in 59 games in domestic football.
Brendan Rodgers’ side take on Neil Lennon’s Hibernian at Hampden tomorrow lunchtime with a place in the Betfred Cup final at stake before facing the Dons at Pittodrie on Wednesday.
The Dons’ failure to reach the last four of the competition means they are without a game this weekend but McInnes says his players aren’t resting on their laurels.
McInnes said: “We need to fine-tune our training to keep that edge to our play.
“We are only nine games into the season but we have already had a couple of international breaks and we don’t have a game this weekend.
“We will try to keep a sense of edge to our training as we will certainly need that going into the game against Celtic.”