Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie insists his side has to cut out the defensive mistakes which have left them languishing in the bottom half of the Premiership.
The Dons have scored five goals in the last two league matches but only have two points to show for their efforts.
Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Hibernian, which followed a 3-3 draw with Motherwell in midweek, has left the Dons in eighth place in the Scottish Premiership and still searching for their first league win since returning from the winter break.
Shinnie knows the error-strewn defensive errors have to stop.
He said: “We should have won the game. We were the better team in the first half. They had more of the ball in the second half but in terms of chances we had decent opportunities.
“We need to start winning games. If we can turn these draws into wins we can move up the league but you win games by not conceding, it’s obvious.
“We’re never going to win games with the goals we’re conceding. We’re gifting teams goals and it’s something we need to work on.
“Going forward we’ve been fine. In two games we’ve scored five goals but the problem is we’ve conceded five on the back of that.
“There are very encouraging signs going forward. We’re getting in good areas and scoring good goals but the ones we’re conceding are not good enough.”
‘The manager has put his own stamp on how he wants to play’
Interim manager Neil Warnock has been trying different personnel and systems in the hope of finding a winning formula since replacing Barry Robson in the Dons dugout.
Shinnie believes the players are responding to their new manager but believes Warnock needs time to get his ideas across.
The Dons captain said: “He tells you exactly how it is, he doesn’t sugar coat anything.
“It’s not as if Barry lost the dressing room. Everyone was playing for him.
“But the manger has put his own stamp on how he wants to play. The other night we played a five which didn’t work. Today we went back to a four as he is clearly trying to work things out.
“It’s been tough. Drawing at home with Dundee, Motherwell and now Hibs. The goals we’re conceding are frustrating but we will take the point and move on.”
Shinnie believes Aberdeen should have had a penalty in Hibernian game
There was a sense of frustration at the goals conceded on Saturday with Kelle Roos’ poor kick out leading to Hibernian’s opening goal before Nicky Devlin and Jamie McGrath struck to put the Dons ahead.
However, a mistake from Devlin gifted Hibernian an equaliser before the Dons were left aggrieved at not being awarded a penalty following a clash between Hibs goalkeeper David Marshall and Dons striker Bojan Miovski.
Shinnie was in little doubt a spot kick should have been awarded.
He said: “We had moments going forward and on another day we could have had a penalty when Bojan was punched in the face.
“I felt it was a penalty.
“Bojan heads the ball first and then is punched in the face. It’s not intentional and there’s no malice.
“I hate going back on things but I won a ball and followed through and got a four-game ban.
“Bojan is down injured so they probably did check it at length. They obviously felt it was okay but I felt looking at it that it was a penalty.”
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