And McInnes felt Ferguson was the only player who delivered for 90 minutes at Rugby Park after his side came back from Kris Boyd’s penalty opener.

“In the last three games he’s played three different roles,” McInnes added. “Here he went from being a number 10 to a number eight in the second half. In midweek, with the way Hamilton shape up, he played as a four in front of the back four and ran the game.

“There’s a boy that’s had to deal with everything that came his way last Sunday. Some youngsters can get carried away. His temperament has never been in question. He’s a boy but he’s a man. Nothing fazes him.

“He takes responsibility and there’s a maturity about him that I love. He’s still making contact and winning more headers and tackles than anyone else. Then he comes up with the free-kick.

“He can do a bit of everything. But for me his best is as an attacking midfielder and I think he will score important goals, as he has done this week.

“It’s important we don’t expect too much from him but I know what I’m going to get most weeks. Some days will be better than others but he always brings a good performance.”

McInnes admitted a scout would have struggled to work out Aberdeen’s game plan in a “half-hearted” first-half display but he was delighted with their second-half response.

Even then it took the Dons 73 minutes to get a shot on target, but substitute Bruce Anderson’s effort found the net as he diverted Niall McGinn’s strike home.

Killie stepped up a gear but somehow found themselves losing a game they had appeared in control of for the majority of the play.

“That’s football,” manager Steve Clarke said. “If you have as much control of a match that we had then you have to create a few more opportunities and get the second goal, which would have put the game to bed. We didn’t do that.

“However, I don’t think that anyone could have seen Aberdeen scoring twice near the end because they only had two shots on target all afternoon. It’s a tough one to take but we need to improve if we want to stay in the top half of the table.”

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