Aberdeen proved they have grit, determination and a never-say-die attitude by securing a win at Kilmarnock.
It also took a lot of courage to turn a below par performance into three points against an in-form team who are flying high.
For long periods of thegame it looked like the Dons would struggle to get anything from Rugby Park.
Yet they dug deep to come away with three points to keep the recent winning momentum going.
That battling mentality will be vital throughout the season, particularly away from home when it is difficult to dictate games.
Sometimes you just have to dig deep to grind out a win.
It was the case against Rangers in the Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden last weekend.
The reward is a cup final slot and the chance to win a trophy to add to the League Cup success of 2014 under Derek McInnes.
The pay-off for the never-say-die spirit at Kilmarnock was a second straight league win which has taken them to the brink of breaking back into the top six.
The top half of the Premiership table is where a team of the Dons’ stature has to be.
It is where they have been for the last five seasons since McInnes came to the club.
Aberdeen will need to show that same battling qualities to get into the top half of the table and stay there.
Derek McInnes’ side are still getting the results they require.
Victory at Rugby Park certainly didn’t come easy as Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke has turned the club around and made it very difficult for opponents to get results against them.
When a game is not going your way the players have to dig out a result.
However, you also have to look at the manager to inspire the players at half-time and make the changes, which Derek McInnes did.
He made personnel changes and formation changes which ultimately paid off with a win.
With the Dons trailing 1-0 at half-time and playing below par, McInnes made a decision.
He took on striker Stevie May for Dominic Ball.
Aberdeen subsequently changed gear in the second 45 minutes as May was lively up front and offered a different dimension.
In the second half, Gary Mackay-Steven started carrying the ball a bit better and the back coped much better.
It was certainly more encouraging in the second period, but for long periods of the game a draw would have been a good result.
Not for the first time this season, Bruce Anderson came off the bench to score an important goal.
He netted the injury time equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Rangers in the first Premiership game of the season.
And Anderson again showed his keen striker’s instinct to net at Kilmarnock.
It bodes well for the future that it was two young players in Anderson and teenager Lewis Ferguson who stepped up to the plate to get the goals.
Despite the victory, I am sure boss McInnes would be the first to admit it wasn’t a good performance
It was a scrappy game and the quality was not there in the first half.
The two Dons centre-backs Scott McKenna and Mikey Devlin struggled to cope with Kris Boyd, particularly in the first half.
Boyd has plenty of experience, but I was expecting the Dons defenders to deal with his presence better.
Conceding a penalty and then Boyd scoring from the spot will have been very frustrating for Aberdeen.
Defender Shay Logan got far too close to Chris Burke and gave him that chance to go down for the spot-kick.
The Dons have only shown what they are capable of in patches so far this season.
It is only 11 games into the league, so there is a very long way to go.
However, the Dons are closing in on that top six and have a Betfred Cup final with Celtic at Hampden on December 2 to look forward to.
This was a significant week for Aberdeen and they have emerged from it with three wins.
Now if they can beat Hibs at Pittodrie on Friday night it would be an impressive run of form, irrespective of the performance at Kilmarnock.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.