Bruce Anderson is ready for the challenge of leading the line at Aberdeen.
The striker has taken on the challenge of getting the goals for his club in pre-season, scoring five times in four matches for Derek McInnes’ side.
He continued his impressive return when he came off the bench to score in his side’s friendly defeat by St Johnstone on Tuesday and will be aiming to show his qualities again in when Hibernian visit Pittodrie today.
The match against the Hibees will be the club’s final warm-up match ahead of next weekend’s Premiership opener against Rangers at Pittodrie and Anderson is full of confidence as he prepares for the new campaign.
He said: “I’ve come back for pre-season and I feel sharp and this is probably the best I’ve felt so I’m happy to just continue where I was at.
“I’ve said it plenty before that I just love scoring goals whether it’s friendlies, training or matches and I just want to continue as much as I can.
“I feel strong and sharp and I’m just working as hard as I can with the coaching staff on different parts of my game, not just goalscoring, my movement and how to get more goalscoring opportunities.
“I’ve been working really hard and hopefully we can see that soon.”
Dons boss Derek McInnes has had to contend with niggling injuries in his squad following the return from a lengthy break due to the coronavirus pandemic but the manager is confident his squad will be near full strength for league opener next Saturday.
He said: “Curtis Main joined back in training on Thursday and Friday. Bearing in mind he’s been out this game will come too quick for him.
“But hopefully he can get a full week going into the Rangers game to be considered for that.
“At this stage of the season we’re mindful of trying to get players up to speed and the likes of Niall McGinn, Matty Kennedy and Sam Cosgrove were behind the rest of the lads.
“So we’ve been trying to make sure we got some minutes into them.
“It’s that fine balance in your preparation to getting as many of them up to speed for the first game.
“The good thing is we think Scott McKenna, who came off with a little issue at half-time on Tuesday should be okay and we’re not concerned about him for the Rangers game.
“Lewis Ferguson had a little thigh strain but he came through the game and played 90 minutes against St Johnstone.
“Mikey Devlin is obviously out for the foreseeable future with his hamstring but considering where we were a couple of weeks ago, other than Mikey, we feel as if we’re going to have the majority of them fit and ready for the start of the season.”