Results the priority, insists Scott Vernon

The Dons received little praise for their display on Tuesday night after Andrew Considine’s late goal earned them a 2-1 replay victory over Queen of the South in the William Hill Scottish Cup.

But Aberdeen have crashed out of competitions to a series of lower-league teams in recent years – including Queens – so a narrow win was arguably a sign of progress.

There have been plenty of examples of such advancement in recent weeks, with Aberdeen having lost just once in 13 games. Craig Brown’s team are unbeaten in 2012 ahead of today’s SPL clash with St Johnstone at Pittodrie, and Vernon is satisfied with their resilient approach. “I’m an experienced player and, all through my career, I have seen teams who can grind out results,” the 28-year-old said. “It’s a good habit to have and long may that continue. Obviously we want to play better football, more attractive football and be more entertaining for the fans. But the result is the thing that matters.”

Brown strengthened his squad last month but has been hit by injuries to the likes of Russell Anderson, Rob Milsom, Isaac Osbourne and Chris Clark. Vernon said: “That might be a contributing factor to why we’re not playing the best football in the world. There’s a lot of injuries and once we get everyone back fit there will be a real good squad of players to give the manager some selection problems.

“You need to be fighting for places to get the best out of players.”

Brown’s injury problems have eased ahead of the Saints game with Gavin Rae and Peter Pawlett both back in training after hamstring injuries.

“They were looking good,” Vernon said.