Peter Pawlett is relishing his return to one of his favourite venues when Aberdeen face Dundee United today.
The Dons make the trip to Tannadice looking for a win which will take them level on points with the third-placed Tangerines.
For Pawlett, United’s home is a venue which holds happy memories. Jackie McNamara’s side is unbeaten at home this season but the Dons travel to Tayside with confidence following a run of one defeat in their last five visits.
The Dons won both games at United last season with Pawlett scoring a dramatic final-minute winner on New Year’s Day and he would love to repeat the feat this afternoon.
He said: “It’s always a fixture I look forward to down there and there’s always a great atmosphere.
“Our record at Tannadice is good and I have good memories from playing there. We always seems to get a decent result and put in a good performance.
“The games are always played at a ferocious pace and I think that suits us.
“I enjoy playing there. I scored a late winner there which was a good day for me.”
For Pawlett, the game will be the chance to face some familiar foes in the United team.
He said: “It is two teams in decent form with a lot of young players on the pitch, some of who I played against when I was a kid of 10 or 11 and now I’m playing against them in the first team.
“I played against people like Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven when we were youngsters. Stuart’s from Aberdeen and we faced each other when we were about 14 or 15.
“He’s done well and has hit good form recently. He’s a very good player.”
The New Firm derby is an important one in terms of league placing but an even bigger match is looming on January 31 when the teams meet at Hampden for a place in the League Cup final.
Pawlett knows victory for either side will put down a significant marker.
He said: “Maybe it would give us a slight edge if we won but there’s a lot of football to play before the semi-final.
“We can’t get ahead of ourselves but I do think a win would give us a slight advantage, definitely.
“We’re taking 3,600 supporters to Tannadice and we want to reward them for their loyalty by winning and give them a decent start to Christmas.
“We’ve been six points behind United for most of the season so this game will be a great opportunity for us to pull level with them and that will look a bit better for us in the table.
“Inverness are up there, too, and we’ll be playing them soon. So, it’s an important time for us and this time last season we kicked-on. It’s a huge game for us at Tannadice.”