Lyons: Everyone has part to play over busy festive period

Brad Lyons has emphasised his appetite for the busy Christmas schedule, stating that the full squad is desperate to play their part in quickly bouncing back from the disappointment of last weekend’s result.

Speaking after the Hearts match, Lyons said: “The games come thick and fast: you’ve not got long to wait to make up for it. I think the turnover is brilliant, actually.

“Yes, we’re disappointed about Saturday but we don’t have to let it linger all week. We pick ourselves up, come back in, recover, train right and then look forward to Aberdeen.

“We’ll debrief and look at the positives, look at the negatives, but all focus is on Aberdeen and hopefully we can correct a lot of things from Saturday.”

The Northern Ireland international also believes that the side can take confidence from an impressive victory against Aberdeen in October, ahead of the midweek trip up North.

“That’s the thing, we approach every game with confidence. We’re going into each game for the three points because we know we have the quality, and we know we can beat anyone on our day. It’s just about finding that bit of quality in the tight games. It’s maybe just a bit of luck falling our way as well to get us across the line.”

After biding his time and establishing himself as a regular first-team starter this season, the 26-year-old knows exactly how important squad players will be during the festive period.

“You look at the league this season, it’s so tight. So, a couple of wins back-to-back pushes you right up the table. There’s a lot of good teams, we know that, but we have to focus on ourselves.

“We have a great squad and I think you’ll see that over the busy period. As footballers, we have to be professional and do everything right, on and off the training pitch, because the matches come thick and fast. Especially with the weather, we’ve got to look after ourselves.

“I know myself and all the boys in there are raring to go for the month of December because this is what we’re working for. We want to play football matches. Training is good and all that, but we’re here to play matches so we can’t wait for the busy schedule.”

Facing a tough trip to Pittodrie, Lyons insists the hunt for an away win has not become a psychological battle and highlights that the team are desperate to reward travelling supporters for their dedication.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating. It’s a bit of déjà vu like last year and we can’t really put our finger on it at the moment. We’ve had very good performances but lacked a bit of luck to get across the line. I think it’s one of them, once you get the first win under your belt they’ll start coming, and hopefully we can start on Wednesday night.

“I don’t think we’re going into every away game thinking: we have to win this because we haven’t won away from home yet. It’s another game of football: there’s three points available like every other game at home or away.

“We understand it’s very frustrating, especially when our supporters are travelling wide and far for us – they bring a brilliant support to back us. We want to do it for ourselves, and we also want to do it for them.”