McInnes coy on Rangers speculation but praises focus of Aberdeen
The Dons boss is the current favourite for the Ibrox hot-seat
Derek McInnes refused to be drawn on his future at Aberdeen but praised his players for focusing on the task at hand following a 2-1 victory over Ross County.
The Dons bounced back from their midweek defeat to Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic as Ryan Christie's thunderbolt and a second-half penalty from Kenny McLean helped them get back to winning ways.
And McInnes was impressed with the professionalism of his side as he continues to be linked with succeeding Pedro Caixinha at Rangers.
While he did not comment directly on his own post, McInnes said: “Having been a player myself, it's just always about your own professional pride. You can see the focus from the players and the staff, everyone was just geared towards trying to win the game.
“We're well used to speculation here, whether it's about our players or myself. We've dealt with it in the past and will continue to deal with it.”
Michael Gardyne gave the visitors an unexpected eighth-minute lead at Pittodrie, but Christie quickly responded, finding the top-left corner after a neat move which saw the on-loan Celtic man exchange passes with Stevie May.
Aberdeen took the lead in the 52nd minute when McLean stroked home from the spot after Jamie Lindsay brought down Graeme Shinnie as the latter tried to get onto Greg Stewart's reverse pass.
McInnes said: “The whole team deserve credit because to lose the way we did in midweek was a sobering experience.
“To come off the back of that the way we did, it's all about winning but we could have and should have been more comfortable.
“There's no doubt we deserved the three points and the players deserve a lot of credit for the way they have responded.”
Ross County assistant Sandy Stewart saw a number of positives despite his side's defeat.
He said: “We're left with a dressing room with a lot of disappointed boys.
“We scored a fortuitous goal and felt as if we could have held onto the lead a little bit longer. To be fair to the boy Christie, it was a fantastic strike.
“Going in at half-time at 1-1 we were quite content, and I don't think we were ever out of the game. Aberdeen started the second half better, and we've seen the penalty which was a definite penalty - there are no complaints from us.
“The most disappointing thing is we got into a lot of good positions but from that we failed to capitalise, whether it was the final ball or good defending from Aberdeen.
“We felt we gave a good account of ourselves but ultimately we're disappointed not to have taken anything from the game."