Aberdeen braced for tough test against Naysmith's Queen of the South

Aberdeen assistant manager Tony Docherty knows Gary Naysmith's professionalism will ensure his team face a tough challenge from Queen of the South.

Naysmith takes his Queens team to Pittodrie in the William Hill Scottish Cup fifth round on Sunday after seeing off Dundee following a replay in the previous round.

The former Scotland left-back had a season at Aberdeen where he briefly worked under Derek McInnes and Docherty when the pair came in for the final five games of the season.

But it was enough to show Docherty how thoroughly Naysmith will prepare for the televised tie.

The cups are so important to this club,'' Docherty said.The last one we got to the final and just fell short. This one we've got a real opportunity to get to the last eight but so have Queen of the South.

They are a team we've got real respect for, respect for their staff and respect for their manager and we'll be treating that game accordingly.

We've had them watched on several occasions now and know their strengths and weaknesses.

Gary Naysmith's someone we know well and we had him on the staff here. He's a great lad and a really top professional, one of the best I've worked with, and he's taken that into his management.

I heard his interview during the week there and I'm very impressed with the way he's going about his business. We know it's a team that we'll need to be at our best to try and beat and get to the last eight.''

Docherty felt the Dumfries side were well worth their triumph over Dundee.

The game at Dens Park they did extremely well and the game down at Queen of the South, you saw it was a 3-0 win and they were great,'' he said.

They were in a great run of form up till then and had beaten Inverness up there and had beaten Ross County 4-0 so they were going into that Dundee game full of confidence and credit to them.

They're a good team and well organised and it's well documented about Stephen Dobbie, and rightly so with 37 goals in 30 appearances, and they've got (Lyndon) Dykes in behind him.

They've got Nicky Low who we know well and have a well organised and good team.

There's absolutely no chance we'll underestimate that. They deserve all that respect and getting through in the cup they'll be looking to go even further.

So we must make sure we're guarded against that and we get our strengths over their weaknesses."