Jim Goodwin expects his Aberdeen side to embrace their trip to Tynecastle to face Hearts despite the two teams’ respective league positions.
The Jambos are riding high in third place in the cinch Premiership, while the Dons are 14 points behind them in ninth place.
Goodwin, who has overseen back-to-back draws in his first two games in charge of Aberdeen, has urged his team to enjoy the trip to Edinburgh and believes they can take heart from the fact they have collected four points from their two meetings with Robbie Neilson’s side this term.
“There’s no fear factor,” said Goodwin. “It’s really important we don’t fear any opposition.
“As always, we’ll give Hearts the utmost respect because we know they’re a good side and they’re sitting third in the table.
“They got back to winning ways against St Mirren at the weekend so they’ll be coming into the game with a little bit of confidence off the back of that result.
“But I’ve always enjoyed playing at Tynecastle. It’s one of the good away days when you’re going to get a really good atmosphere. The way the stadium is built, the fans are almost on top of you.
“Our lads are looking forward to that. We’ve had relative success against them this season so there’s no reason we can’t go and do it again.”
Goodwin, who confirmed that on-loan Celtic defender Adam Montgomery is facing an injury lay-off, has been pleased with the response he has had from the Dons players since he arrived at the club almost a fortnight ago.
“The players have been brilliant, very receptive to what we’re wanting them to do,” he said.
“I’ve been there myself as a player where you get used to working a certain way for a previous manager and then a new guy comes in with a whole new way of playing and you’ve got to adapt.
“The boys have shown a great attitude which is all you can ask for. It’s still very much a work in progress.
“We’ve only had half-a-dozen training sessions with them. It’s good to have games coming thick and fast, but when you’re a new manager you want to get time on the training pitch because that’s where you can get your ideas across.
“The players have been great. There’s a lot of good experienced leaders here and then there are some really good exciting prospects. We’ve got a good mix. So far, so good.”
