Aberdeen manager Barry Robson hopes Connor Barron is back to his best after putting the injury problems of last season behind him.
The Scotland under-21 international has been hugely impressive since returning to the Dons starting 11 in the last two matches, helping his club record a first league win of the campaign and reach the semi-finals of the Viaplay Cup.
Robson is delighted to see Barron, whose appearances last term were restricted due to knee and groin injuries, showing the form which earned him plaudits after breaking into the first team in the 2021-22 season.
The Dons boss said: “Connor has been outstanding in the last few games, but so have other players. There’s a lot of them doing that.
“He’s had a pre-season. That was the most important thing for Connor.
“He had a lot of injuries last year, but I’ve got big belief in him, so hopefully he can keep cracking on and performing the way he is.”
Dons boss thrilled to be Hampden-bound
County, despite playing with 10 men, put the Dons under pressure in the closing moments as they tried to force extra-time, but Robson was pleased with his side’s display.
He said: “At 2-0, I thought we were cruising into the next round, but we gave away a penalty and it was a bit more nervous than it needed to be.
“People will remember the last 10 minutes, but we were in control for the rest of the game – we could have had a couple of penalties and we could have scored more goals.
“It’s difficult against 10 men, but it was a quarter-final and Ross County had to go gung-ho towards the end.
“The sending off changed the perception of the game and it took us a bit of time to get into the rhythm of it, but I don’t think Kelle (Roos) had a save to make.
“We didn’t go chasing lots of goals. The objective was to get to the semi-final and we did that.”
‘It has been a real learning curve’
Cup progress follows a 4-0 Premiership win over the Staggies at Pittodrie and a hugely encouraging display in the 2-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Conference League.
Robson is delighted to see his players adjusting to the challenge of competing on multiple fronts, both in Europe and domestically.
He said: “Hampden is where we want to be and we’ll look forward to it. The aim was to get to Hampden and we’ve achieved that.
“It’s been a big eight weeks for us and we’ve had to go and play at some really hard places, yet we’re still fighting on all three fronts.
“A lot of the squad haven’t been where we are just now and it has been a real learning curve for them.
“They did fantastically well in Germany and then put in a very good performance at home to Ross County.
“They have then come up to County looking to earn a place in the semi-final of the cup and they have done it.
“A lot of these guys haven’t played in the Premiership, Europe or Hampden so they are getting used to it.”
Big matches keep on coming for the Dons
There is no let-up for the Dons as their focus now turns to Saturday’s trip to Ibrox to face Rangers.
With Conference League action also looming again next week against HJK Helsinki, Robson is trying to manage his squad carefully.
He said: “They are playing a lot of football. We are trying to freshen things up as much as we can as we try to get results.
“It’s going to be difficult and we’ve got to go again on Saturday, but we’re hanging in there.
“We’re in the semi-final, we’re in Europe and we’ve got a big game at Rangers. Let’s see how far we can take it.
“We’ll need to change things up a bit as we’ve got a lot of tired players in there, but we’ll go there with a structure and try to get a result.”
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