Aberdeen will not be complacent against Hearts at Tynecastle – Tony Docherty

Aberdeen will not be taking anything for granted when they meet struggling Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday, according to assistant manager Tony Docherty.

The Gorgie club are at the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership table, three points adrift of Hamilton, following the 2-0 home defeat to Edinburgh rivals Hibernian on Boxing Day.

It was a 12th league defeat for the Jambos this season and new manager Daniel Stendel is still searching for a first win following four games in charge.

But Docherty, pleased with his side’s 2-1 home win over Livingston at Pittodrie on Boxing Day, told the club’s official website: “There will be absolutely no complacency from us against Hearts.

“You take every game on its merits.

“We will look at all of the Hearts games under their new manager and prepare our team.

“We will analyse the opponent, we will have a look at our game against Livingston, what we did and what we could do better.

“We will go down there with a game plan with a view to win all three points.”

Docherty is pleased with the way the Dons responded to the 2-1 defeat by Celtic at Parkhead last Saturday.

He said: “We said to the players after the Celtic game, that after the manner of the defeat,  we take the positives from it and we go and try and finish off the year with six points from six.

“We have managed the first part of that.

“That was the objective. At times it wasn’t pretty, but I need to give credit to our opponents, no game is easy against Livingston.

“They have got a way of playing, they put things into your box from their goal kicks, they throw it into the box from long throw-ins and you have to defend that.

“We come out of it with a lot of credit having managed to get the three points against a team that have been on a very good run and that gives us a bit of  momentum going down to Tynecastle.”