Jonny Hayes believes Aberdeen are moving in the right direction as they head into 2022 but the Dons defender insists there is still huge room for improvement at Pittodrie.
A December rally from the Dons has taken them into the top six of the Premiership thanks to four wins from five matches.
It has been a rollercoaster season for Aberdeen so far, but Hayes can see signs of consistency coming at the club.
However, he knows sixth place is nowhere near the height of Aberdeen’s ambition this season.
He said: “We are six months into a new manager and with new players.
“The penny has dropped a bit, but there is still a lot of improvement to come. We can take a lot more from the training pitch out to the park.
“We need to put more points on the table. There are different ways to do it, but the best way is to win games.
“That is what we want to do.
“The best teams in the world can improve all over the place.
“We can keep more clean sheets, score goals or move the ball faster. We can improve on every single area and we know we need to put more points on the table.”
‘We realised if we stuck to the game plan we would get ourselves back into it’
Hayes was pleased to see his side dig deep in difficult conditions.
He said: “Dundee had a bit of adversity and had a lack of numbers.
“Sometimes that can play into the opposition team’s hands, but they worked hard, took the lead and we knew we would need to come up with other ways to try and score goals.
“We have a game plan and we like to try and stick to it, because we know when it works it works well and it pays off.
“We realised if we stuck to the game plan we would get ourselves back into it and we would eventually score.
“There was good quality from Ryan (Hedges, to equalise).
“We maybe could have got a couple more goals to make it a bit easier at the end.”
Hayes pleased at team-mates’ powers of recovery
The Dons had to fight back to secure victory after falling behind to a spectacular free-kick from Dark Blues attacker Leigh Griffiths.
But goals from Hedges and Lewis Ferguson ensured Aberdeen went into the winter break with all three points.
Hayes could only admire his former Celtic team-mate Griffiths’ outstanding free kick, but was delighted with the resolve shown by his side to come back and win the game.
He said: “It was a classic strike and sometimes there is nothing you can do about things like that at times.
“We tried to keep the ball on the deck, but the weather at this time of year doesn’t help.
“We tried to stick to the game plan and we produced some good football.”
Hayes was also pleased to see the training ground work pay off with Ferguson’s winner midway through the second half at Pittodrie.
He said: “We got the ball and we like to get it out the other side if there is somebody free.
“That is something we have been working on all season.
“Christian (Ramirez) has taken the ball down and it has given Ferguson the time and space to do what we all know he can do.”
