Aberdeen manager Barry Robson believes his side will get stronger in 2024.
The Dons booked their place in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 win at Clyde on Friday.
The victory follows a Europa Conference League campaign and a League Cup final appearance for the Dons this season but Robson insists there is more to come from his side.
The Aberdeen boss wants to secure both a return to Europe and another cup final appearance from his side in this campaign.
He said: “This is a team which will grow. When we first came in we had eight loan players starting.
“Now we only have one. It’s a team we believe will grow and we want to get stronger.
“We’ve got a few games in hand and if we win them it will take us up closer to where we want to be.
“We want to take this club and fans back to a cup final.
“We know it is difficult and there are lots of hard games to play but when you come into a cup you want to go as far as you can, especially at this club.”
‘We have learned so much’, says Dons boss
The European commitments, following a busy period of transfer activity at Pittodrie, means Robson and his coach staff have had precious few opportunities to really work with their side on the training ground.
The Dons boss has referenced the lack of training time throughout the season but believes the campaign has been huge learning curve for everyone at Pittodrie.
He said: “We had a huge turnover in the summer and we didn’t have the squad together until the season had started.
“We’ve learned so much coming off European games. It’s really difficult due to the emotion of those games and the top players you are playing again.
“I’ve learned myself. Sometimes we could have made more changes but it is hard to leave out a Bojan Miovski.”
Robson pleased with clean sheet
Aberdeen’s first step on their quest to secure a second cup final appearance this season was navigated with the minimum of fuss at New Douglas Park on Friday.
Bojan Miovski and Nicky Devlin got the goals as the Dons beat Ian McCall’s Bully Wee side who are bottom of League Two.
Robson believes the margin of victory could have been greater but was happy to head back to the Granite City with victory following the winter break.
He said: “A clean sheet and through to the next round so we’re happy.
“It was a difficult game on a difficult pitch and we could have threatened a bit more.
“They hit the post at 0-0 with what was their only shot on goal and we had to tighten up.
“We could have done a few things better in an attacking sense but we controlled the game.
“They defended well. They sat with a back five and never really moved and we had to change our system to stretch them.
“Once we were creating overlaps down the sides it helped us.
“Credit to Clyde, they were organised and structured and it was down to us to go and break them down.
“We could have scored a couple more in the last 10 minutes but getting through is what matters.
“We’re through to the next round and we want to go on another run.”
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