Aberdeen skipper Anthony Stewart was pleased to come through a testing evening at Annan Athletic, but pointed to the game as one that will make this new Aberdeen teams stronger.

“Nights like this are important for the team. It’s fine when you’re cruising and winning games nice and easy, but when things aren’t going the way you want them to, that’s when you have to pull together. We did that tonight and eventually we came through and won the game.

“They made life hard for us. They shuffled across the pitch well, they sat in, they denied us space and that made for a difficult evening. They let us have the ball at the back and every time we went anywhere, they pressed in numbers.

“We’ve been excellent in the competition so far. Up until today we hadn’t conceded a goal. Today was a bit of an off day but the main thing is we got a result which is job done, in the cup competitions especially.

“Any chance you get to get your hands on a trophy, it’s massive and the cup competitions are really important for this club. Getting through to the quarter-finals, being in the draw, that’s a huge thing, but we want to go further.”

Stewart admits that he is still adapting to the demands of his new team, but is relishing the challenge posed by life with the Dons.

“I’m enjoying it, I’m still learning about the opposition we come up against, but it’s a great challenge. It’s a different style of play here to what I’ve been used to in most of my career, we have a lot more of the ball than teams I’ve played in in the past, and I’m really enjoying getting to grips with that.

“It is a new team, we are all getting used to each other as well, there’ll be ups and downs while we’re doing it. The big thing is to win games while you’re improving, and we did that tonight.”