Aberdeen have bettered their points tally from the same stage a year ago but midfielder Ryan Christie believes the Dons should be even better.
The Dons are second in the Scottish Premiership, eight points behind Christie’s parent club in the table but the on-loan midfielder is frustrated the gap is not less.
He said: “There’s a little bit of frustration that we’re not closer to Celtic.
“That added to the frustration against Hearts on Saturday after the draw in the Old Firm game.
“We wanted to get three points, pull away from Rangers and get closer to Celtic.
“It’s frustrating we’ve not managed to do that but we’re still confident that after the break we’ll be ready to try and close the gap.
“That’s the plan. There are no other targets. We just need to try to get as close to Celtic as possible and run them as close as we can.
“Hopefully that takes us a long way to getting second place.”
Christie’s return to Pittodrie for a second loan spell has been a huge success with the former Caley Thistle player becoming a key figure in Derek McInnes’ side in the first half of the campaign.
His displays for the Dons also led to international recognition in the friendly against the Netherlands at Pittodrie in November and Christie is eager to continue his progress in 2018.
He said: “It’s been a good year for me. The most important thing was just playing football again and I’ve really enjoyed it at Aberdeen.
“Obviously there have been highs and lows but I was lucky enough to have the international experience as well. So it’s been a good year to look back on football wise but I want to kick on again.
“I’ve really enjoyed working under Derek McInnes and the club as a whole, look after the players. I’m hoping to kick on now; the plan over the summer was to try play as many games as I can. I’ve been lucky to start a lot and my aim is to keep my place in the starting line-up.
“I’ve been asked a couple of times about my plans and to be honest, I haven’t really thought about it. You enjoy your football more when you’re not constantly thinking ahead and that’s what I’ll continue to do, until the time comes when I have to make a decision.
“Hopefully I’ll have a good season at Aberdeen then review where my career is at from there.”