Niall McGinn put his visit to Rugby Park to good use by inspiring Aberdeen to a 2-0 win away to St Mirren.
Watching his former club in action seemed to have upset social media but the Irishman was given a warm welcome by the travelling support in Paisley and responded with the first goal of the match.
Derek McInnes had been questioned on McGinn watching Celtic in midweek and after defending the player got the response he was hoping for against St Mirren.
“I thought Niall was outstanding,” the Dons boss said.
“His performance was excellent but they usually are for me. The support was singing his name from the first minute which was pleasing for me.
“We were guilty of not giving him enough of the ball but any time he got the ball he skinned the full-back and he was still doing it at the death and setting up chances.
“I didn’t think he was any more determined, he always is determined but I was delighted for him to score a goal. The conditions played a part in that but he still has to be positive and everything he did was positive.”
The win puts Aberdeen four points ahead of Celtic having played two more matches, the two clubs meet in Glasgow at the end of February but despite eight straight wins in the league McInnes doesn’t want to look beyond next week’s match against Dundee
“Any kind of run like that is unusual, the record books will tell you that,” he added.
“The challenge is to try to win nine in a row and we have a chance to do that next week but just because you are on a run and have confidence, nobody is going to give you it.
“I am enjoying watching my team at the minute, there is good maturity and focus, we have deserved to win all eight games and obviously eight clean sheets are helping us.”