Celtic loanee Liam Scales has racked up his fifth clean sheet in seven games since joining Aberdeen.

Scales played the full match on Saturday as the Reds defeated St Johnstone 1-0 at McDiarmid Park to move up to fifth in the Premiership table.

The Irishman, 24, has impressed Dons boss Jim Goodwin since arriving in the Granite City and the manager has made no secret of his desire to sign Scales permanently.

Indeed, in his seven competitive games Scales has contributed to five clean sheets while often starting at the heart of the Aberdeen defence.

His versatility has seen him play at left-back on occasion too but, notably, the Reds have conceded just once this term when Scales has been at centre-back.

He began his Dons career with four straight clean sheets in the League Cup against Peterhead, Dumbarton, Stirling Albion and Raith Rovers before having to miss the 2-0 defeat to his parent club at Parkhead under the terms of his loan agreement.

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A 4-1 win over St Mirren brought the only concession of Scales' centre-back tenure so far - a Jonah Ayunga penalty, which he did not concede - and while the next week carried with it a 3-2 defeat to Motherwell, he was not playing at centre-back for any of the three Steelmen goals.

Goodwin has previously mentioned how well Scales has fit in since his arrival as well as his intention to test Celtic's resolve for a permanent deal.

“The boys are building really good relationships there," Goodwin said earlier this month. "I think Scales and [Dons captain Anthony] Stewart, in particular, seem to get on great together.

“Not just on the training pitch or on the park but around the place socialising together which is a huge part of it.

“That conversation was had with Celtic initially. We wanted to know what the number was and could we make it happen.

“Celtic are not willing to sell Liam right at this moment in time. That is fair enough because he is their player and he is on a long-term contract.

“Certainly we will enter into those discussions again in January if Liam has the kind of success we expect him to have.

“Hopefully he is enjoying his time at Aberdeen and will want to sign on with us.”