‘WE KNEW WE WOULD OVERTAKE RANGERS,’ 99 GOAL DONS STRIKER

The Ibrox club held a seven-point advantage over the Pittodrie men in mid-December.

Following a run of eight wins from nine games, Derek McInnes’ side are now nine ahead of their Ibrox rivals following the 1-0 win over Ross County at Pittodrie on Saturday.

That lead could be extended to 12 points if they beat rock-bottom Hamilton Accies tomorrow, with Rangers in action against St Johnstone 24 hours later.

Despite the spectacular 16-point swing, Rooney says there can be no let up now.

He said: “Even when we were so far behind Rangers, we were always confident and never panicked.

“There was probably a feeling they were running away from us, but we didn’t panic as we knew within the squad that we are capable of putting these types of runs together.

“We have shown over the years we can go on winning runs, so it is just a case of continuing to work hard, keep the belief and be patient in producing that form.

“Thankfully, we did that.”

Rooney added: “We knew Rangers had lost on Friday and wanted to take full advantage of that by getting the win against Ross County.

“It was a great weekend for us with Rangers, Hearts and St Johnstone all being beaten.

“All our focus is on ourselves because if we keep winning games there is not a lot the other teams can do about that.

“We have a difficult game at Hamilton now where we have not had the best of results in the last couple of seasons.”

Rooney hit his 99th league goal against the Dingwall outfit and admitted: “I am hoping to hit the 100th against Hamilton.”