ZANDER DIAMOND has revealed he was scared of putting jam on his toast at the height of a confidence crisis that nearly wrecked his Aberdeen career.
The Dons star went from the guy who could do no wrong in his debut season to a tortured soul in his second.
Even now the 22-year-old can't put his finger on where he went off track in an error-prone campaign that cost him a place in the Pittodrie line-up.
Diamond has now fought his way back into Jimmy Calderwood's plans and, as he prepared to take on Inverness on Wednesday, revealed the extreme lengths he took to regain his form.
Zander said: "When I broke into the first team it felt like nothing could go wrong but then something just hits you.
"I started doubting myself. Am I doing the right things and preparing properly? Is it my boots, is it this or that?
"I went as far as changing pre-match food such as putting honey on my toast instead of jam.When your confidence goes you'll try anything to get it back.
"In January I decided to get surgery on a double hernia I'd been playing through and that was a big moment.
"Things improved dramatically and those hellish 18 months are forgotten."
While Diamond struggled with poor form there's another jinx that the entire Inverness Caley side can't shake off.
The Dons are the only team in Scottish football Caley haven't beaten.
But Barry Wilson says the hoodoo isn't on his mind - it's the thought of getting to another semi-final that will be his biggest spur.
He said: "It's not about winning because it's them, there's a semi-final place at stake. The last time we made one was 2004 in the Scottish Cup.
