Aberdeen defender Max Lowe says it is imperative the Dons address their poor home form ahead of a crucial Pittodrie double-header.
A 4-1 drubbing of Queen of the South is Aberdeen’s only victory in six matches on home soil, while the club’s recent away results have been exemplary, with Saturday’s 2-0 victory at St Johnstone equalling a club record of seven successive away wins.
Hamilton Accies visit Pittodrie this evening ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against Steven Gerrard’s Rangers – and Lowe is determined to give the home support plenty to cheer about.
He said: “We have lived up to the environment away from home.
“On Saturday, we were on the front foot from the first whistle and we need to do that at Pittodrie.
“Teams have sat back and let us have the ball but we have to go for it straight away rather than waiting for the last half hour when it can sometimes be too late.
“When we play at home, I sense a lot of teams are waiting for us to make mistakes.
“We feed off that and make sloppy errors which can cost goals.
“When we play away from home, we go all guns blazing and we are winning 50-50 tackles all over the pitch.
“We have got to do that with the home games we have remaining.
“Against St Mirren (when Aberdeen drew 2-2) we left it too late and it has been a problem for us.
“If we play like we have away from home then there will be no problems. We know that as a team.
“It is a big week but none of us have looked past the Hamilton game.”
The on-loan Derby County defender, meanwhile, understands why Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was tempted to return to the English Premier League with Leicester City but hopes the move can work in favour of the Dons as they look to prevent the Glasgow side completing another domestic clean sweep.
He said: “It will come into our heads that it is a bit of hope for us.
“We don’t want to cling on to that, we need to look at our own performances, starting against Hamilton.
“I was very surprised, it was the news I woke up to this morning.
“Leicester is a great job for him and I’m sure he will do well.
“In recent years they have probably been the biggest club in the Midlands.
“On the back of winning the league, they have been able to keep their top players, such as Jamie Vardy.
“They have got a good squad with some good young players such as James Maddison and Ben Chilwell who could blossom into top players. It is a great opportunity for him to do as well as he can with them, like when they won the league.
“I can see why he was looking at the job.”