Brad Lyons insists Aberdeen are ready for Hearts test

Aberdeen midfielder Brad Lyons insists his side is ready for their Premiership opener against Hearts.

Lyons and his Dons team-mates will welcome the Jambos, who finished runners-up in the Scottish Premiership last season, in Saturday’s opening game at Pittodrie.

The Northern Ireland international is respectful of the threat Hearts possess but insists his side are ready for the challenge after a strong showing in the Premier Sports Cup.

He said: “It’ll be a tough game. We watched them in Europe last week and then last year.

“They have quality players but so do we.

“We’ve had a really good League Cup campaign, so we can’t wait to get started.”

Lyons joined his team-mates at Pittodrie on Tuesday for an open training session in front of Dons fans.

The former Kilmarnock midfielder believes the sizeable turnout to watch Stephen Robinson and his coaching staff put the players through their paces at an open training session at Pittodrie reinforced the size of the club he has joined after leaving Rugby Park.

Lyons told Sky Sports: “I think what you see today, even on an open day like this with the amount of fans that have turned up, it’s a massive club.

“I think it’s the history of the club, they’ve won a lot of trophies, they’ve got great experience, great history.

“You see the players, the managers who have come through, and we want to put our own stamp on it and hopefully add to that history as well.”

Open day shows the size of the Dons

Lyons was joined at the open day by Lewis Mayo, who has also made the move to Pittodrie from Kilmarnock in the close season.

Mayo was not surprised by the turnout after seeing the Dons travel in big numbers to support their side in their two away games in the Premier Sports Cup.

The central defender said: “It’s been really good, even today we’ve turned up to our training and we’re blown away by the amount of fans that have turned out. I think there’s a lot of excitement for the new season.

“I think days like today, it starts to sink in. Even our two cup games away at Queen of the South and Brora Rangers, in terms of distances, as far as we’re going to go this season, and the fans are there in numbers.”

[Source: Press and Journal]