Philippe Clement believes Aberdeen can be William Hill Premiership title contenders as he turned his attention to Pittodrie following Rangers’ 2-1 win over St Mirren at Ibrox.
The Dons began the day at the top of the table and unbeaten in 15 games in all competitions this season under new boss Jimmy Thelin before Celtic’s 3-0 win at Motherwell leapfrogged the champions above the Granite City men on goal difference.
Vaclav Cerny scored the winner for Rangers in the second half after Mohamed Diomande’s opener after 13 minutes was cancelled out by an Alex Gogic header.
It left the Gers sitting in third place, six points behind the leaders ahead of the keenly awaited trip to Aberdeen on Wednesday.
“I think they have done exceptionally well,” said Clement, who revealed absent midfielder Tom Lawrence, out with an injury, and John Souttar, rested, will have to be assessed before the trip to Pittodrie.
“If they keep this level all season then they will be in contention.
“But I’m focused on Rangers and raising our level month by month and making things better here with the squad.
“So I’m not busy with that, it’s still how many games to go until the end of the season, 29? So it’s still a long way to go.”
Clement claimed Cyriel Dessers showed his “big heart” with his contribution to the three points.
The Gers striker apologised to the Belgian after just walking off the pitch in what seemed like an emotional state with an eye injury during the 4-0 Europa League win over Romanian side FCSB on Thursday, with Hamza Igamane having to be hastily thrown on as substitute.
Dessers was replaced by the Moroccan youngster for the visit of the Buddies and then took over from him for the start of the second half and it was his determination and desire which allowed him to cut the ball back for Cerny to knock in the winner.
He said: “I told you guys what happened on Thursday, and it’s Cyril with his big heart, and he showed his big heart also today, the way he came on
“So he loves this club, he wants to give everything to get results, and that he showed not only with the assist, but also when the ball went out, to make a fast throw and keep the tempo going on, higher than it was first half.
“That is what I wanted also, what I demanded after our first half, and being important in that way.
“So the striker is not only scoring the goals, he’s also giving assists and working hard, and that’s what he’s been doing.
“So it was a little bit of pity that at the end he didn’t get a penalty. I didn’t see the action, so I cannot say if it was correct or not.
“That would have been an extra reward for him.”
Despite a valiant effort, St Mirren are in eighth place in the table, with one win in 12 matches in all competitions.
However, boss Stephen Robinson was pleased with the way his side responded to last week’s 4-0 defeat at Hearts.
He said: “I asked for a reaction in terms of the performance last week, which wasn’t us. And for a few weeks it hasn’t been us.
“And today I got the reaction I wanted. We’re on a sticky run, of course, but performances like that is now the standard that’s set.
“Tough times don’t last. Tough people do. And we’ve proved today that if they play like that, they’ve got a tough mentality.
“And we need to see it again Wednesday and Saturday, and we’ll be talking about climbing the league again.”
