What did you make of the game?

After the last two games, it was a pretty uneventful 1-0 - but they all count for three points. I thought we were pretty comfortable at times tonight without having any cutting edge or real quality in the final third. We had good opportunities were I’d like to have seen us be a little crisper in our final pass and shot. But look, I asked them for a clean sheet and we got it and now we’ll go down the road. It’s been tough week in terms of the two trips but the challenge for the week was to get six points, we done that and there are things for us to work on but we know that. After the last two games being a roller-coaster that was pretty routine.

Was the clean sheet the biggest improvement?

Alfredo played the other day when maybe he shouldn’t have. I didn’t want to take a risk this time. I took a slight risk with Connor, he seems to have got through it. That’s Ben’s first 90 minutes for a while so you get a centre-back pairing in and you keep a clean sheet. That’s a good sign. Obviously, we lost Allan to illness but Jon came in and I thought he made one excellent save at a big moment. We started the game really well but with their first attack our keeper has had to make a save. All in all, I’m not going to sit here and say it was a classic but we’ve got three points so lets go home and enjoy Christmas. We’ll go again on the 28th and that’s my ultimate overview.

What does Jon McLaughlin's performance say about his character?

There’s been a lot spoken about the goalkeeping position but I don’t see it as an issue. We’ve got a fantastic young goalie in Robbie McCrorie who we’ve got to at some point give an opportunity to and we’re aware of that. It was always in my eyesight to give Allan a rest tonight but when he arrived at work yesterday it was clear he couldn’t play. There was no problem, Jon has got my full trust. When I was here previously under Steven, Jon did fantastically well and kept a number of clean sheets He’s done so tonight and I’m really pleased for Jon.

 

Lundstram dropped back into defence, was that part of the plan?

What I've noticed in the last two games is that there isn't much space in the middle of the pitch for our No.10s so we try to stretch them out with our centre-backs going wider and John coming down just to get people facing forward and bringing the ball out. I thought John did that really well. When he drops down he can obviously go a little bit further with his passing. It was a key aspect to the first half, how many times we got Adam on a cross-field ball. We'll get better, we'll get more rhythm. It is a changing room that realises it needs to keep getting three points. We have to keep winning so are we going to be our free-flowing best while that's in their mind? I'm encouraging them. At the moment it is important to be functional and get the results. Over time we will hopefully improve. John coming in tonight for Ryan Jack was managing the minutes through the week. Both are going to be very, very important moving forward. They give us a bit of bite in midfield, pass the ball well, leaders within the team. I thought Ryan did particularly well at Pittodrie and John tonight with the winning goal.

READ MORE: 'Long may it continue' - John Lundstram on Rangers win

How happy are you with six points from six?

Delighted. Coming back into the club and seeing these three fixtures for what they were, I would have taken the nine points any way I got them. It's been a mixed bag but given me plenty of optimism going forward. I am the most open-eyed, open-minded person about how far we need to improve but the players can only win the game in front of them. They've done that and they deserve the most credit because one or two have played when they would not have played if we had more options. Hopefully, by the 28th we'll have Antonio, I'm hopeful Kemar will return as well and Borna Barisic so that's three very, very good players that come back in and strengthen us, that can only help us.

There's been some criticism of Rabbi Matondo. What do you make of it?

He's a young boy. He's an international, played in the Bundesliga, played in the Belgian league, he's here for a reason. He's maybe having a crisis of confidence. it would have been lovely if he had scored that goal, for him and for everyone. He's our player, we trust him, we bought him for a reason and we will help him out the other side of it. He's one of us so I think at this moment in time it is clear to see that he is struggling for confidence and rhythm and that is my job and his teammates to pick him up because we believe there is a player there.

What have you learned about the mentality of the squad?

I think they have taken on all the information. It's important I give them the information in little bits and not massive chunks. I need to realise where the mentality of the squad is. I think they realise they need to win games. All they can do is win and hope something happens elsewhere. At this moment in time it's the most important thing. I've been impressed with the willingness of players to keep going. We looked tired in the last ten minutes, especially the two centre-backs. We've got them back and that's a huge boost for us.

Is there any news on Steven Davis?

I don't want to discuss that right now. Give us a couple of days to feed back the situation with Steven. We've waited for the swelling to go down. he's been down to have his scan and now we're going to take advice before we speak on that one.