Aberdeen's Stevie May recaptures scoring touch at right time

Of course, Stevie May's first goal in four months just had to come against St Johnstone, but the Aberdeen striker is confident it's a significant first step towards rediscovering the sort of form that made him such a prolific scorer for the Perth club.

Stevie May celebrates Greg Stewart's second goal of the game. Picture: SNS

It’s now four years since his 27-goal season culminated in their first Scottish Cup final win, prompting a move to English football that might have been lucrative, but was fraught with frustration.

A disappointing year with Sheffield Wednesday was bad enough but the majority of the next two seasons at Preston North End were written off by a career-threatening knee injury and things haven’t exactly gone smoothly since returning to Scotland.

Two goals on his Dons debut against Dundee last August turned out to be a false dawn for someone who has now scored just 13 goals in total since leaving McDiarmid Park but his performance on Saturday explains why Derek McInnes prefers him to Adam Rooney right now.

May is a more rounded player given his ability to link-up play when Aberdeen are in full flow, as they were once Ryan Christie had edged them in front after a first 35 minutes that was surely as bad as 
anything seen this season.

Greg Stewart, another troubled soul after a miserable time down south at Birmingham City, added a couple after the interval to double his overall Aberdeen tally at the same time, although May had shown his old scoring touch with an adroit finish just before the break.

Now the aim is to maintain that form to move Aberdeen three points clear of Rangers in second place with a win at Fir Park tomorrow and the striker believes he will hit form at the right time to help them clinch not only the runners-up spot but make more history in the Scottish Cup.

‘It’s the best time of the season to get going” claimed May. “It’s the home straight and every result from here on in is massive. We have to treat each game as if it could be our last to get that second spot.

“It was a good start today anyway. It’s tough when you are in and out of the team but I’ve got the injury out of the way now. The international break definitely helped but I’m back now and fresh and ready to go.

“It’s been shown how hard it is at Fir Park but we know we can get a win there, although it will be tough.

“If we play as well as we can we have quality in the top end of the pitch and a solid foundation in defence. We will fancy ourselves.”

Matty Willock’s headed goal sandwiched between that Stewart double was of no consolation to a St Johnstone side who now finish in the bottom half of the table for the first time in seven years and their manager Tommy Wright knows it will take a major overhaul in the summer to take them back to the top.