Derek McInnes played down talk of Aberdeen finishing second in the SPFL Premiership this season after an impressive 3-0 win over Partick Thistle on Saturday.
The Aberdeen boss watched his side beat the Jags in Glasgow through strikes from Calvin Zola, Peter Pawlett and Josh Magennis.
It was their first win since the opening day of the season and McInnes is pouncing on suggestions the Dons can push on for a second-placed finish.
“How arrogant and naive would that be for anyone at Aberdeen to say that,” McInnes said.
“We haven’t finished in the top six for four or five seasons now, so it would be ridiculous. We can’t stop people saying nice things about us, but all we’re trying to do is work our way through each game as it comes and see where we go.”
Zola headed the ball into the net from the second phase of a set-piece on 13 minutes to give Aberdeen the lead. The towering forward dispossessed Gabriel Piccolo after 19 minutes and laid off to Pawlett who rammed home from 18 yards out.
Despite their dominance, the Dons had to wait until late in the game for Magennis to fire the ball under Scott Fox.
Partick boss Alan Archibald says his side will be trying to adapt throughout the season.
He said: “I think most managers know how we play. We’ve adapted to that, we’ve tried different shapes when teams have pressed us in different ways, but that’ll happen all season.”
* St Mirren manager Danny Lennon criticised referee Craig Thomson for overturning a penalty decision in his side’s 1-0 defeat to Motherwell, and claimed that the incident was indicative of the bad luck that is coming the way of the Buddies at the moment.
Former St Mirren striker John Sutton headed the only goal of the game in the 38th minute, and despite the home side enjoying large periods of possession, it was the visitors who carved out the clearer opportunities after the break, with Shaun Hutchinson heading against the crossbar and David Cornell saving well from a one-on-one with Henri Anier.
However, it was Thomson’s decision to award St Mirren a penalty before changing his mind with the game still goalless that drew Lennon’s ire.
Conor Newton burst through the Motherwell defence before being tripped a yard outside of the penalty area by Keith Lasley, but Thomson immediately pointed to the spot.
This provoked furious protests from the Fir Park men, and after consultation with assistant Alan Mulvanny, the referee overturned his original decision.
“I’ve never come across that in my time involved in management or playing, so that’s frustrating for us, and that seems to be the luck we’re not getting just now,” said Lennon.
“We’ve won three on the bounce which is nice, but in each game we’ve had opportunities to kill teams off and haven’t taken them,” said Well boss Stuart McCall.