Graeme Shinnie determined to extend Aberdeen’s curious record against Hearts

Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie cannot explain their recent record against Hearts but is determined to keep their side of the run going.

The fixture has not seen an away win in the Premiership since Aberdeen won at Tynecastle in May 2017.

You have to go back a further year to find a Hearts win at Pittodrie and the Dons have won 10 of the 13 games between the teams in the Granite City since then.

“It’s difficult to explain,” Shinnie said. “We’ve had the ones with St Mirren and Kilmarnock too. It’s hard to pinpoint it.

“It’s difficult games. Going away from home can be difficult at any place, but I don’t think it will have much bearing on the game.

“Every year there’s different players, there’s different managers sometimes, different styles. Teams are in different form. So it’s not something that will probably have a bearing on the game.

“It’s difficult to pinpoint why it happens, but we’ll be looking to try and keep our side of it going.”

Leaders Hearts will arrive at Pittodrie unbeaten in the league and Shinnie is not surprised to see them start well under former Dons manager Derek McInnes.

“They’ve got a good squad, a good manager,” he said. “They’ve had a brilliant start to the season. They’re in a very strong position.

“They’ve done really, really well. But we try and obviously focus on ourselves. We’re at home and we are looking to try and get the win that we need to start climbing the table.

“Yes, they’ve had a good start to the season, but we want to change that.”