Steve Agnew hoping for Aberdeen deja vu as Barry Robson CAN lead Dons to third place surge

Steve Agnew has backed Barry Robson to lead Aberdeen to another second half surge that’ll see them finish as the third force again.

The No.2 knows the Dons will be playing catch-up after the break but they have games in hand and also won’t have the distractions of European group-stage football going forward. Aberdeen were in a similar spot last season when Robson took over from Goodwin at the end of January and he led them from the bottom half to third spot – as best of the rest!

Now it will take something similar. Agnew said: “Aberdeen is a huge club in Scotland and we know that. We relish the challenge of actually being at the top end of the league and competing there. We have games in hand on some of the teams above us. Okay, we have to win them but we are in a confident mood that we are capable of winning those games.”

Robson led the Dons to third, the European group stage for the first time in 16 years and the Viaplay Cup Final. But he still came in for criticism from some of his fans because of their patchy Premiership form in the first half of the season. Agnew has seen it all before and knows his boss has come out the other end far stronger. The former Middlesbrough, West Brom and Newcastle coach said: “I have been in football a long time and at a lot of big clubs. When you are involved as a manager or coach at a big club you have to accept that comes with pressure and expectation. It’s something you have got to handle.

“Barry and us as coaching staff are all confident we can achieve what we want to achieve this season. In Europe we never got the rewards we thought we should have had.

"There were games where we should have got more points than we did. With our league form we’ve had some good performances but