Shayden Morris to continue impressive Aberdeen renaissance by hitting major landmark against Rangers

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Shayden Morris is set to make his landmark 50th appearance for Aberdeen.

The ex Fleetwood Town man will hit the half-century for competitive games if he plays against Rangers at Pittodrie this evening. The 22-year-old has revived his career under new boss Jimmy Thelin. He provided the cross that led to Peter Ambrose’s winner against Dundee United on Saturday. Morris had been able to make an impact for Aberdeen in their unbeaten Premiership and Betfred Cup run.

He also netted his first Aberdeen goal in the Premier Sports Cup win over East Kilbride in the group stages. The Englishman was signed by former boss Jim Goodwin from Fleetwood Town two years ago. Morris was in and out of the team under Goodwin and Barry Robson. The writing looked to be on the wall for Morris after interim manager Neil Warnock substituted him early doors in an early collapse at Motherwell. Warnock then gave Morris time off to try and get his confidence up.

Midfielder Leighton Clarkson is also closing in on his 100th Aberdeen appearance. He is on 97 Dons appearances as things stand and will hit 100 against Dundee next month, if he plays against Rangers this evening and against Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final v Rangers on Saturday.

Elsewhere Jimmy Thelin will equal his longest unbeaten top-flight run if Aberdeen can avoid defeat against Rangers tonight. The highly-rated Swede has already led the on-form Dons to an unbeaten 15 game run and level with Premiership leaders Celtic. He will be looking to take that to 16 when Philippe Clement’s side make the trip to Pittodrie. An Aberdeen win would put them nine points clear of rivals Rangers.

Unbeaten sequences are nothing new to Thelin. He had an unbeaten run of 16 games at Elfsborg. That stretched from April last year to July last year and was sandwiched between two defeats to Aberdeen’s old foes BK Hacken. The run of wins saw Elfsborg beat Brommapojkama, Degerfors, Mjalby, Halmstad, Sirius, Varnano, Norrkoping, Malmo, AIK, Varberg, Hammarby, Kalmar and Djurgarden. Thelin could also boast draws against Varberg, Djurgarden, and IFK. His unbeaten start to life at Pittodrie could be even more impressive. He has won 14 games with just one draw, that was a 2-2 comeback draw away to champions Celtic earlier this month.

Thelin has led Aberdeen to wins over St Johnstone, St Mirren, Kilmarnock, Ross County, Motherwell, Dundee, Hearts and Dundee United in the Premiership. The Dons also face Celtic in Saturday’s Betfred Cup semi-final. They have beaten Queen of the South, East Kilbride, Airdrie, Dumbarton, Queen’s Park and Spartans to get to this stage. Thelin had several long unbeaten runs at Elfsborg that also ran into double figures in his six years at the club.

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