Loanee Leighton Clarkson hopes finishing third in the Premiership would give “something back” to the Red Army, having “loved every minute” of his time at Aberdeen this season.
The 21-year-old Liverpool midfielder, who has been at Pittodrie since last summer, played the full game on Saturday as the Dons beat Kilmarnock 2-0, in the process overhauling struggling Hearts in third place.
It has been quite the turnaround for Aberdeen since Barry Robson took charge – as during their post-winter break slump under sacked boss Jim Goodwin, the Dons found themselves languishing in the bottom six, 10 points behind the Jambos.
Clarkson thinks delivering third, and the all-but-guaranteed, financially-lucrative European group stage football which comes with it, would be a way to repay the Aberdeen fans for the warm welcome they have given him following his arrival from Merseyside.
He said: “It would mean a lot (to get the team in Europe). The fans have welcomed me since the day I got here and I know they’re all football people.
“I know it’s not been too good round here over the past few seasons, so to give them something back – I really want to do that for them.
“I was speaking to Angus (MacDonald) before, and I’ve genuinely loved every minute of living here and playing.”
Clarkson admits the prospect of being two points clear in the third felt a long way off a few weeks ago, before Aberdeen’s run of six wins in eight league games since Robson over, and four straight top-flight losses for Hearts – including the Jambos’ 2-0 weekend defeat to St Mirren – turned the tide.
Clarkson added: “I’ll be honest with you, yes (third looked a long way off), because we were down as a team. We couldn’t put our finger on what it was, but that happens in football.
“Barry’s come in with new ideas, we started quite well and now we just seem to be clicking.
“We’re getting the wins, which is the most important thing at this stage.
“It’s got us to where we are now – but we’ve got seven games left.”
It is due to those seven remaining games – two pre-split and five post-split, including a Tynecastle meeting with Hearts – Clarkson, like his manager, is refusing to get too far ahead of himself.
He said: “We’re all happy with how it’s going, but there’s still seven cup finals left for us.
“The only focus for us is on Ross County on Friday, which we know is going to be a really tough game. All of our focus is on that.
“It could be (a really special end to the season), but we’re just looking toward Ross County and making sure we do the business there, then we can start to look ahead to the game after.”
Fast start was Dons’ aim
On Saturday against Killie, Aberdeen scored through Luis “Duk” Lopes after just 16 seconds.
Keeper Kelle Roos then denied the visitors an equaliser on the stroke of half-time, before Duk’s second sealed a vital victory.
Clarkson said: “We tried to get an early start. I felt at St Johnstone (1-0 win) we didn’t get that.
“We got that, got the goal, fell off it a bit into the last 15 of the first half, but we regrouped, managed to get the second and see the win out.”
Clarkson played a big part in the second Dons goal, sending a perfect long pass over the Killie backline to Bojan Miovski with the latter crossing to the back post for his strike partner, Duk, to finish.
Playmaker Clarkson, who revealed boss Robson has been demanding the Aberdeen players try to mix up their play to get the two forwards on the ball as much as possible, said: “It’s something we’ve spoken about since the day I’ve got in here to the club, just about the movements.
“I’m just glad he (Miovski) assisted.
“He should’ve done that 10 minutes after as well – but we’ll let him off.”
The absence of captain Graeme Shinnie on Saturday meant Clarkson, who has mostly been utilised as a no.10 for the Dons, was instead played as deeper central midfielder alongside Ylber Ramadani.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Ryan Duncan filled the advanced midfield role.
Clarkson said: “Obviously Shinnie was suspended and we had to mix it up a little bit.
“Ry’s come in as a 10, and me and Rama were just sitting behind him.
“I feel I can play any of the midfield positions. I felt good in there, alongside Rama, and I’m just delighted we’ve won the game.”
Conversation