Aberdeen stars set 20 goal challenge but Jimmy Thelin is happy if they keep spreading the joy

Jimmy Thelin would love one of his Aberdeen strikers to pick up the gauntlet and hit 20 goals.

The Dons, who head to Hibernian for Tuesday's clash, have been on form but their goals have been spread around their squad after Bojan Miovski was sold to Girona. Pape Habib Gueye has been out for several weeks but is still their top scorer with five goals.

The likes of Kevin Nisbet, Jamie McGrath, Topi Keskinen and Nicky Devlin are all sitting under him on three strikes, while Ester Sokler and Peter Ambrose have just one league goal each. Thelin, who is looking for his Aberdeen squad to bounce back from their first league defeat, said: “The most important thing for me is how we create chances and which areas we want to arrive with x number of players. Sometimes it doesn't need to be the number nine, it can be someone else, but the most important thing is that we can see it's happening over time.

“Of course I'd be happy if someone scores 20 goals, but it's not easy to find these players. The most important is how many goals the team scores together over a season and share this responsibility so you're not so reliant if someone gets injured or someone disappears, you're not out of ideas. So I think that's why we want to create now and get players better and better in their positions."

The likes of Scotland star Nisbet has shown in the past he is capable of getting to those levels and will be looking to get the chance on his return to Easter Road tonight. He is one of many in the Aberdeen squad who could hit that 20 mark. Thelin stated: “I don't want to put that pressure in the future, but we can talk about that after another few months, but it would be nice (if a striker hit those sorts of levels).

"Yeah, if the team can help