'On the mend' Leven made himself heard from hospital

Leven may not have been on the touchline but he was still shouting from his hospital bed last weekend

Peter Leven may have been in hospital for Aberdeen's last game but that did not stop the interim head coach from barking out the orders.

Whether or not those instructions were followed to the letter is another matter.

On the eve of Saturday's 1-0 win over St Johnstone, Leven needed an operation to address an infection.

However, he was set up with a television and on his phone for the duration of the match.

"I tried to push the operation back to be at the game but obviously the medics overruled and said it needs to be done straight away," Leven explained.

"Lying on the medical bed on Saturday, I was on the phone to the bench, watching the game.

"I was animated, I was shouting. I had to go into a private room and they probably could have heard me from the stadium!

"I was shouting at Jonny [Hayes] and Jonny wasn’t relaying it the way I was shouting, but the guys that stood in were brilliant."

The ear-bashed Hayes was joined by fellow coaches Scott Anderson, Craig Samson and Stuart Duff as the Dons took their unbeaten league run to six games.

Now Leven is back as they aim to extend that sequence away to Hibernian on Sunday.

"I'm on the mend," he added. "It's getting better each day. Your health is important and I'm thankful to everybody at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary that looked after me."