It has been the latest in what has been a depressingly all-too-frequent run of bad weeks for Aberdeen, with the side slipping to back-to-back defeats and out of the top six.
The second half on Wednesday night against Celtic brought a clear improvement after the manager abandoned what had been a catastrophic attempt to play three at the back, and the argument could be put that Aberdeen deserved a draw, but the damage had been done, and when they sensed danger, Celtic had the quality to respond immediately.
Given what they had done to Rangers and Motherwell in their two previous outings, the Dons perhaps got off lightly on the night. Two-nil down after 20 minutes, I feared it was going to be another heavy loss.
It wasn’t, but the run without a league win in 2022 continued, a result which left Aberdeen languishing in ninth place in the Premiership.
The performance at Livingston last Saturday, certainly for the first hour or so, was abject, possibly the worst of the campaign, and it prompted Stephen Glass to publicly question the attitude of his players. That is never a good sign, but he did at least belatedly get a response from them in midweek.
Next up is this afternoon’s crucial Scottish Cup tie, a game which will determine the remainder of the season. Win it, and spirits will be lifted, but if the side slumps to another sickening loss and exits the competition, the next few months are going to be absolute torture.
As the manager had admitted at the start of the week, the team is regularly letting the fans down.
There is clear and understandable unrest among the support, plenty who believe Dave Cormack made the wrong choice in appointing Stephen, and the inevitable consequence of a defeat in Motherwell will be fewer turning up for the remaining league matches.
That would be a financial drain the club can certainly do without right now.
It is becoming harder and harder to dredge up any positivity, more and more difficult to see any light at the end of the tunnel, and the only way to change that is for results to improve.
That is down to the players and management. The buck stops with them.
This afternoon at Fir Park has become the most important 90 minutes of the season, and everyone in the dressing room should be well aware of that. The pressure will be intense, but that comes with the territory, and the time has come for a number of them to prove they have what it takes to pull on an Aberdeen jersey.
It is no exaggeration to say that some of those players may be playing for their Pittodrie futures against Motherwell.
If they pull through and keep alive the dream of ending the Dons’ 32-year wait for Scottish Cup success, the feeling in the camp should be transformed and confidence levels lifted.
It will also lighten the mood of a section of the support towards the manager. Were it not for his strong relationship with the chairman, Stephen’s position would be under intense scrutiny right now, and he has been in the game long enough to know that.
He, too, could do with what would be a massive win.
A week where Cove could put one hand on League One trophy
The next week will go a long way towards deciding Cove Rangers’ fate this season.
Off the back of a fourteen-match unbeaten run in League One, Paul Hartley’s men enjoy a seven-point advantage, their lead unaffected by successive draws against Dumbarton and Airdrieonians.
Queen’s Park are at The Balmoral this afternoon with Falkirk visiting next Saturday. Neither are in the running to win the championship, but both are battling for a play-off place, and are likely to make things tough.
Cove’s two title rivals, Airdrieonians and Montrose, go head-to-head today. A draw would clearly be the ideal outcome, offering the opportunity to stretch the margin at the top.
It has been another remarkable campaign with just three losses along the way and there has been nothing to suggest the players are going to slip up now. A victory over Queen’s would set things up very nicely with just eleven games remaining.