Barry Robson getting his message across as Bojan Miovski nets Aberdeen winner

Aberdeen caretaker manager Barry Robson says his mantra is getting through to striker Bojan Miovski after the Macedonian’s 17th goal of the season moved his side above Livingston and into the cinch Premiership top six.

Miovski struck a sweet volley a minute before the interval to earn the home side the points in a game that lacked for quality, if not determination.

And Robson laughed: “Every day I see Bojan, I ask him how he is and tell him, ‘Run fast, score goals’.

“When you play against a team like Livingston, they slow the game down and they will always ask you questions. It’s difficult to play against and hard to get into a rhythm.

“We knew we would have to fight – it doesn’t matter how good you are as a footballer, you need to get that first and then the talent and football comes after.

“(Ylber) Ramadani and (Graeme) Shinnie in the middle of the pitch want to go to war. If you want to play for Aberdeen and score goals, you need to go to war, and they did.

“We’re just glad to get the three points.”

Davie Martindale, the Livingston manager, admitted his side were not at their best, and was full of praise for the way the Aberdeen defence blunted their attacks.

“It’s a game we should probably have come away with a point from,” he said. “I’m not saying Aberdeen didn’t deserve all three, but I don’t think either team made many chances.

“They scored theirs and ours got cleared off the line, and that’s really the story of the game.

“Aberdeen’s defence defended very, very well, whereas we didn’t clear our lines properly throughout the first half.

“The goal comes from us not clearing our lines, and our man marking Miovski has switched off. It’s a decent finish, but really it comes down to Aberdeen defending their 18-yard box better than we did.

“We weren’t our usual selves, we weren’t dominant and that was the disappointing aspect.”