There’s Barry at it again – with a sixth straight league win Aberdeen’s manager is embarking on the final lap at full throttle, at a time in the season when they are more used to feeling the wheels rattling off the axles.
The last time a Dons side recorded a winning streak of such length in the post-Hogmanay portion of a league campaign, it came to a sad and unfulfilled end in May 1991.
In half of the seasons since, the months of January to May have failed to yield better than a half-dozen league victories full stop, let alone on the bounce.
It helps, of course, to be able to rely on someone like Duk. New hairstyle, same result.
🗣️"That is a fabulous first time finish from Aberdeen's man of the moment!"
Duk puts Aberdeen 1-0 up in Dingwall with a great finish 🔽 pic.twitter.com/ZIXE8d35cr
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) April 14, 2023
Duk may play the game in a fashion which would see the Scottish football manual describe him as a luxury, but this tremendous forward has become the dependable lynchpin of Robson’s side, opening the scoring in five of the seven wins under the new boss. And in the process suddenly becoming the team’s leading marksman, albeit only by the width of the shoelace by which his assist of what would have been Bojan Miovski’s own 18th of the season rendered it offside.
Back in the safety and comfort of a winning dressing room, the impish Duk might have mischievously suggested he’d done it on purpose to keep his partner’s tally below his own, and such is his control over his extraordinary physicality he might just be capable of it.
No player has been more significant in Robson’s burgeoning tenure, and the warmth with which Duk was congratulated by the coaches upon his late withdrawal shows they know his value.
Summer may test the financial number the club puts on that, but between now and then he will be priceless to Robson.
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