The next few weeks are going to be important in defining Aberdeen’s season.
In the Premiership, the split is fast approaching with the Dons battling Rangers and Hibs to finish in second place while in the Scottish Cup the Reds now face a replay against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park a week tomorrow.
To go out of the Scottish Cup at the quarter-final stage would be a huge blow.
Derek McInnes has definitely got his eyes on another cup final appearance and his team is good enough to lift the trophy.
However, on Saturday at Pittodrie they didn’t hit the heights they can and Killie did enough to merit a 1-1 draw.
The Ayrshire side made it difficult for McInnes’ men, but they weren’t defensive-minded like some teams that come to the Granite City and just try to contain Aberdeen.
Steve Clarke’s side always had the threat of two up front with Kris Boyd and Eamonn Brophy and then Lee Erwin when he came on.
Both teams were positive in trying to win it, but were poor in terms of quality, although it was still an exciting cup tie.
Both goals came from defensive errors. Keeper Jamie MacDonald was at fault for the Aberdeen goal, but credit goes to Graeme Shinnie for scoring from a tight angle.
Then even worse than that was the mix-up between Shay Logan and Kari Arnason for Killie’s equaliser from the penalty spot.
It looked as though there was contact and it looked like Jordan Jones took full advantage of the situation. In my book any striker has the right to do that if they are impeded once they are in behind the defence.
Jones was in behind Logan and Arnason when the contact, which was minimal, happened.
In that situation the referee is put in a position where he has to make a decision.
My view is that Jones is Logan’s immediate opponent and I don’t think he should assume Arnason is going to take the ball.
I’m not being biased as a centre-back, but if I was Arnason I would have expected Logan to play the ball back to goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
The good news is that Aberdeen are still in the cup but the bad news is they will have to play away from home for the first time this season in the cup.
It’s a big test for them coming up on the artificial pitch at Killie next week.
The game is very much in the balance, but with the way Kilmarnock have been playing, the Reds will have to be better than they were on Saturday to reach the semis.
The last time the two teams had a replay in the Scottish Cup, Aberdeen went on to win the tournament. That was in February 1984 and I scored in a 3-1 win in the Rugby Park third replay round.
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