ABERDEEN winger Matty Kennedy has backed the decision to keep playing Scott Wright despite the midfielder having agreed a pre-contract to move to Rangers in the summer.
Manager Derek McInnes selected Wright for Wednesday night’s goalless draw with St Johnstone, a move that infuriated many Dons supporters who reacted angrily on social media.
McInnes insisted he would continue to keep picking the 23 year-old for as long as he remains an Aberdeen player, seeing no reason to weaken his team for the run-in just to appease the fans.
And Kennedy felt his team-mate’s form meant he deserves to start.
He said: “I think since what’s happened, Scotty’s still been one of our main players. He works hard for the team, he’ll be wanting to play every game and he’s a big player for us.
“Even against St Johnstone, he was running his pan in. I don’t see why [he can’t play]. He’s put in a good performance for the team.
“I don’t really go on Twitter or read any stuff so I don’t really know what’s been said [about Wright’s ongoing involvement]. I just block it out, so I can only speak for myself personally.
“The fans have been brilliant with me since I arrived at the club and hopefully I show that on the park and put in a good performance for them.”
Kennedy was one of the few bright performers in an otherwise unremarkable contest against his former club.
Aberdeen’s push for second place seems to be wilting but the 26 year-old believes it will click back into place soon.
He added: “We’re just missing that wee bit of luck up front at the moment and hopefully that comes in future games.
“It is frustrating. We’ve been playing well for the last few weeks but it’s just that final bit, the ball isn’t going in the back of the net.
“We’ve got a lot of attacking players on the pitch. He’s got me and Jonny Hayes out wide playing in wing-back roles and it suits us. We’ve been creating chances.
“The gaffer does want a lot of attacking players on the park. Scotty and [Ryan] Hedges are in the number 10 roles and they’ve been playing well together. It’s just that final shot or cross or whatever isn’t coming off at the minute so hopefully it can in future games “Winning 5-0 or 6-0 doesn’t matter, winning 1-0 is three points the exact same. Hopefully we can try and do that in the next few games.
“We obviously want to try and finish as high as we can in the table. We’ll just take it game by game and try to pick up the three points.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here