Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes will be hoping his first-team squad can emulate what their U20 counterparts did this week and return from Glasgow with a win.
McInnes' side are up against Celtic tomorrow, live on Sky Sports at 12.45pm, just four days after Paul Sheerin's youngsters won 3-2 against Rangers in the SPFL Development League.
Sheerin said: "The Rangers game made it three wins and a draw for us, which is a good return. We have guys that are breaking into the first team like Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Smith, Nicky Low and Craig Murray and they have played a lot of U20 football, but the rest are pretty new to this level.
"Working with U20s is different to working with first-team players. Kids aged 16 to 19 have different issues compared to experienced professionals. You have to deal with them differently and I am probably calmer with the players now than I was with established players at Arbroath.
"I am loving being back in a full-time environment and being on the training ground every day is a great feeling. I still check Arbroath's result and am keen to see how they are getting. It is great to see them win four games out of four, especially the big one against Montrose.
“Derek includes me in match days with the first team and my focus there tends to be on getting the substitutes prepared before a game and before they go on. They do a separate warm-up to the starting XI and it is good to work with them.
"I have done a mixture of other tasks including being sent to spy on Daugava Riga in Latvia for our first European game. That was my first week in my new job and it was certainly a bit different."
Aberdeen have had a mixed season, doing well in Europe and then faltering against Dundee United and St Johnstone in the league, and Sheerin is hoping that things have now settled.
The one time Scotland under-21 player said: "Hopefully we are back on track with the win over Partick Thistle. I think we suffered from the intensity of the games against Groningen and then Real Sociedad at the start of the season.
"They were a real step up at an early stage - when you consider that Groningen defeated Ajax 2-0 last weekend and Real beat Real Madrid 4-2 you can see the efforts the Aberdeen players had put in. Losing 3-0 to Dundee United was the price we paid."
Sheerin will be able to tell the Aberdeen players about his successes in the East End of Glasgow before kick-off, as he explained: "I went to Parkhead as Arbroath boss and pinched a draw in the Scottish Cup. We lost the replay 1-0 but it was great to take the team to Celtic Park and get a decent result.
"When I was a player at Aberdeen we won 2-1 with a goal from David Zdrilic over a decade ago. There has been a lot of football played since then but that remains the game no-one expected us to win.
"Celtic were on a long run of unbeaten home games stretching back 77 games and we went there with a really young side, with kids like Richard Buckley and Craig Higgins playing. We then lost the experience of Steven Tosh early on and were trailing at half-time.
"Bryan Prunty also scored that night and we have our fingers crossed for a repeat. We have had a couple away on international duty and they have had a few as well but everyone will be up for this game.
“Niall McGinn scored for Northern Ireland so he will be flying and, while he never got on, I am sure Mark Reynolds will have enjoyed being with Scotland in Germany.
"They are good players and deserve to be in international squads and it is great for the club that they are represented. Hopefully they and I will be helping Aberdeen to another win this weekend.”
Craig Stewart
.png){kind=logo}
