Kennedy: “I’ve no doubt that there will be interest in Ajer”

’s assistant manager had a promotion after

Neil Lennon

resigned and led his first game to a victory over

courtesy of

Odsonne Edouard

’s goal early doors.

Aberdeen have leveled up their game in the second half, and the Norway international

Kristoffer Ajer

tried hard to seal his side’s lead. The 22-year-old joined the club in 2016 and his contract is due to expire in 2022 with

interested in acquiring his services.

John Kennedy

 said: “

Kris was terrific especially in the second half when Aberdeen put us under pressure.

“I’ve known him since he came in here as a kid on trial. He’s a great character and a leader, in terms of how he works and conducts himself.

“That was a big performance from him today. Even when he was tired at the end, he was throwing himself in front of things or getting his head on balls.

“We know he’s a good footballer but we’ve always tried to work on his aggression the box.

“That didn’t come naturally to him because as a kid he was a number 10 in midfield. But he’s got it in his game now and that performance will give him confidence.

“Kris isn’t overly thinking about his future. For him it’s just about giving his best wherever he is.

“I’ve no doubt that there will be interest in him. He’s still very young and he’s an international player.

“With his profile of speed, size, technique and ability – there’s going to be interest in him.

“When that comes it’ll be the club and Kris himself making that decision.”

About the squad’s display in his first game at the helm, he said: “

I thought we started well. We came out with a real positive mind-set to play from the back even if Aberdeen were going to press us.

“We did that well, we picked them off. There were some bits to tidy up but in the main it was good.

“We got a good goal in terms of how it was worked before the deflection.”

The Dons were defeated for the second time at Celtic Park in the space of 10 days.

Manager

Derek McInnes

said:

“I don’t think Celtic got going, they had a couple of chances on the break with Callum McGregor and Edouard but in the last two performances against them I felt we were pinning them in their own half.

“I’m disappointed because I thought the performance, like the other night, was deserving of something from the game.”

Aberdeen are sitting fourth on the Scottish Premiership table, four points adrift of Hibernian in the third.

He said: “

Post-split games is where it always sorts itself out.

“We now have two games, Hamilton at home and Dundee United where it is important that we try to get winning performances then we can go into the post-split games where we can be relevant.

“We owe Celtic one, we need to deal with them at Pittodrie and we need to play Hibs at Pittodrie again.

“We need to make sure the next two games really decide the relevance of the post-split games.

“There is nobody in our dressing room thinks third place is beyond us.”

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