Aberdeen defender Andy Considine believes his side must prove Sunday’s Scottish Cup exit was a blip.
Stephen Glass suffered his first defeat as Dons boss as Dundee United ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Pittodrie on Sunday.
The cup exit leaves the Dons with just three league games left and with third-placed Hibernian holding a six-point lead it would take a spectacular collapse from the Easter Road side for the Dons to pip their rivals.
The cup loss is a hard one to take for the Dons, who simply weren’t at the races against a hugely impressive United but Considine insists there is no time for wallowing in defeat as they now focus on Saturday’s trip to Livingston where avoiding defeat will secure fourth place and qualification for the Europa League.
He said: “Being in Europe is massive for this club. We’ve had that for the last seven years, to get that again would be a great achievement by the boys. We’d rather be third but if we do finish fourth and get European football, that’s great.
“The United result is a massive blip, it really is, it’s a sore one to take but if we can go and get a result against Livingston and take care of Hibs, then it will set us up for an interesting final game.
“With football, you just have to knuckle down. There’s always a game round the corner where you can go from zero to hero or hero to zero. It’s just the way it works. I know each and every one of those boys will want to prove everyone wrong
“It will be about getting the heads down and focusing on the next game. The good thing is that there is always a game to look forward to where you can sort the performance, sort the confidence, sort the belief out.
“Third is still massive for us. There is still an opportunity, having Livingston, Hibs at home, then going to Rangers. I feel we’ve done it the hard way a few times, and if it means we’ve to do it the hard way this year, then so be it.”
Losing a game is tough but it was the manner of the defeat which stung the Dons hardest on Sunday.
Considine had dared to dream of leading the team to Hampden in the absence of injured captain Joe Lewis who is recovering from a rib injury but his hopes were shattered in cruel fashion by a slick United.
The defender said: “You want to get yourself there and give yourself a chance of winning a trophy It was something I was having a lot of thought about after the Celtic game.
“I knew Joe was missing this one and I thought this was a great opportunity, to captain the club and help your team to a semi-final.
“It’s a massive kick in the teeth, it really is. It was a tough shift for us, but to be fair to Dundee United, they had relentless energy and they ran us into the ground and we couldn’t handle it.”