Lewis Ferguson concedes third place is out of Aberdeen’s hands after their latest league defeat.
Aberdeen have won one of their last eight games and not scored from open play in that time, however they still remain in with a chance of finishing third.
Hibernian’s defeat to Motherwell keeps their slim hopes of catching Jack Ross’ side alive, despite trailing them by four points and having played a game more.
The Dons have finished fourth in the last two seasons, losing out to Kilmarnock and Motherwell, since finishing second at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.
Ferguson said: “It is not really down to us at the minute.
“Hibs are obviously in control of that so it is down to them and whether they want to get that spot or not. We can just do all we can as we are pushing as hard as possible.
Aberdeen midfielders Lewis Ferguson, Niall McGinn and Dylan McGeouch.“We obviously want that and that was in our sights at the start of the season. It is still our aim but it is not in our hands at the minute.
“We have plenty of games to go and if we can pick up as many points as we want then you never know – it might get us that third spot.
“We are not thinking about thast now, we are just taking every game as it comes.”
Aberdeen have Hamilton at home and Dundee United away in their final two games before the split and they have dropped points against both sides this season.
Their 1-0 defeat to Celtic on Saturday was their second loss at Parkhead in 10 days and another game where they have struggled in front of goal.
Dons midfielder Ferguson added: “We went through a bad spell of not getting results and not performing well. We have turned that corner in the last few weeks.
“We won against Kilmarnock and the performance was decent. It was decent again against Celtic although it was not good enough to win a game so we still have to get better.
🔴 Full time at Celtic Park.#StandFree pic.twitter.com/2MzW5wKo1s
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) February 27, 2021
“It is hard to keep your confidence high when you are losing games. Everyone will tell you that.
“It comes from something deep within yourself to try and bring that out and to try to spread it to the other boys in the dressing room.
“If you are going through a bad spell you need a bit of confidence. I thought we did that.”