IF Derek McInnes ever needed to convince Scottish football that his Aberdeen squad is capable of delivering one of the game’s glittering prizes this season, he need turn only to Ryan Edmondson for approval.

The 19-year-old striker’s first start in senior football brought two delightful strikes in the win over Hamilton on Tuesday night and has him proclaiming – presumably with his manager’s approval – that the Dons are perfectly positioned not just to eclipse champions Celtic in their Premiership encounter at Pittodrie on Sunday, but to clear them from the path the following weekend towards a Betfred League Cup final.

The teams meet in the semi-final of that competition at Hampden, a hangover from last season, courtesy of the Covid-19 crisis and Edmondson, on loan from Leeds United, sees no reason why a challenge to the Hoops and to Rangers on all fronts this season should be discounted.

“Aberdeen is a massive club in the league,” he said. “The squad we’ve got this year is so strong and we’ve got so much depth. Why can’t we [push them all the way]?

“That’s a question the gaffer’s posed to us quite a lot. All the talk is about the Old Firm. Why not us? We’ve got the squad to do it; we’ve got the quality to do it.

“A hundred per cent we can get a couple of wins against Celtic and we can go to Rangers away [on November 21] and we have all confidence that we can get a result.”

Aberdeen went 4-0 up against Hamilton, with Tommie Hoban and Lewis Ferguson scoring their two other goals, although Hamilton replied through David Moyo and a penalty conversion from Ross Callachan in a strong second half performance.

They couldn’t close the gap further, however, and Edmondson was right to boast that he and his team-mates go into Sunday’s game bursting with confidence.

“We’ve got a lot of goals in us” he insisted. “We’ve got that quality coming in from the wide areas. We’ve got so much depth in the squad and the quality there. We can play our game and grab a result.”

As the Reds moved into third spot in the Premiership, still bemoaning that their previous game – against Dundee United at Tannadice – produced just a point, despite their domination, Hamilton’s difficulties are highlighted by their bottom place in the table. The loss of 25 goals in eleven fixtures tells their story.

Callachan summed it up best when he said: “We’re making life very difficult for ourselves. We’re giving ourselves a mountain to climb. I can’t put my finger on why we’re starting games so poorly and conceding really early goals. We need to take positives from our second half performance and start games better.

“The league table’s tight at the moment. It’s worrying for us, but it’s not too worrying. A couple of wins and you’re right up there.”