Greg Stewart convinced competition for places can spur Aberdeen trophy push

Greg Stewart believes Aberdeen's strength in depth can propel them forward.

The attacking midfielder dropped out of the team for the recent 4-1 victory over Hibernian, with Gary Mackay-Steven netting a hat-trick in his place.

But Stewart was back in as the Dons fell to what they felt was an unfortunate 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park.

Ryan Christie will return to provide extra competition in the creative positions as Aberdeen host Partick Thistle on Wednesday night and Stewart feels Derek McInnes' large squad is an asset.

The on-loan Birmingham player said: “You want to play as many games as you can but we have a big squad here and the gaffer likes to rotate if we have a lot of big games coming up.

“I got dropped against Hibs... well, not dropped, he just wanted to freshen things up. Gaz came in and scored a hat-trick. Fair play to him, I was happy for him, it's not one of those things where you say, 'Oh, I got dropped'.

“We have a big squad and we want to go into the next two games and do well, and the Scottish Cup is in our minds as well. You want to win silverware at Aberdeen, it's a big club. There is pressure on you to win silverware here and hopefully we can keep on challenging in the league.''

The former Dundee player previously admitted he was not fit enough when he arrived at Pittodrie in July but he feels he and the team have clicked in recent weeks.

“It has taken me time to gel in but I can only keep working hard in training and hopefully I can take that into games,'' the 27-year-old said.

“The more games you play, the more confidence you get. It is a new team as well.There are a lot of new faces but in the last three or four games we have showed that we have a right good team here.

“Hopefully we can go into the break with six points and we will go away and work hard and come back after the break even stronger.

“The boys were brilliant last weekend against Hibs and I hope the fans were pleased with how we went about things on Saturday and I hope they did not go home too downhearted.

“It was a sore one but we have to be upbeat and be positive going into Wednesday night. If we keep putting in good performances then the results will come.'

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