Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, concerned that the momentum his side had built in the opening eight Premiership games of the season - all wins – had been interrupted by a series of defeats and indifferent defensive performances, decided that rest might be the best solution and gave his squad a five-day break as part of their preparation for the fixture against Hamilton at New Douglas Park tomorrow.

McInnes’s men crammed-in five July Europa League fixtures before the Premiership campaign was underway then played a mid-week tie against Azerbaijan’s Kairat Almaty in the opening week of the domestic campaign.

But while he has previously been torn over whether rest or harder work is best for his players at some point during the season, he decided to offer his men a break.

"It was a good wee break for them,” he insisted.

“We saw the importance of the international break with being back earlier this year.

"It is always a conundrum for any manager - it certainly has been for me over the last few seasons - what do you do with the players over the international break?

"You try to make sure you keep that freshness in what you are doing.

"You want to train with a purpose with a game at the end of it.

"It was an opportunity to recharge the batteries and hopefully we can get the benefit of that this week.”

The Dons emerged from a poor run of four Premiership defeats and a draw on the back of losing to in the League Cup with a 2-0 win over Dundee United two weeks ago and now McInnes aims to build on that at Hamilton.

"Hamilton probably thrive on being written-off,” he said.

“I have been there myself; when we came up with St Johnstone we were tipped by some people to go down.

"You do use any sort of motivation to prove people wrong.

"Hamilton have shown over the last couple of seasons that they can mix it with anyone.”

Willo Flood, a tireless presence in the Reds’ midfield, wasn’t quite to elated as some of his team-mates to have time off.

He returned to the Pittodrie side after a lengthy spell of njury and produce a five-star performance against struggling United, a show the Dons fans hope to see repeated tomorrow.

"It was frustrating for me,” he admitted, “as we had a really good win and performance against Dundee United but at the same time it was probably good for the lads to get a break.

"Sometimes it is just good mentally to get away from the place so I think the lads will feel refreshed and ready to go again now.

"It's been different to the last international break as we were in all week that time as the manager wanted to work on a few things.

"This time he allowed the boys to have a few days off and let’s hope we see the benefits of that over the next few weeks.”

The Irish midfielder, however, rates the Accies highly and pointed to

Ali Crawford as possibly the next one of their promising youngsters to leave the club.

He said: “I think the manager Martin Canning has done a great job this season and the boy Ali Crawford for me is one of the most influential players in the league.

"I'm sure that Hamilton won't want to lose him but I think he has everything needed to make the next step up in his career.

"He might be at the stage where he wants to move to bigger and better things.

“For me he can create and score chances as he is a match winner.

"Looking from the outside he is the one who looks like he could do that but I'm sure they will have a few more down the line who could do well.”