There will be no room for sentiment from Aberdeen interim manager Peter Leven as he bids for a perfect finish to the Premiership season.
The Dons manager set his side the target of winning all five post-split games and securing a seventh-place finish.
Wednesday’s 5-1 victory over relegated Livingston made it four wins in a row for the improving Reds but Leven wants no letting up in their final game at Ross County on Sunday.
County’s Premiership survival is still on the line on the final day of the season after they conceded an injury-time equaliser at St Johnstone on Wednesday.
The Staggies are two points ahead of the Perth Saints going into Sunday’s final day but Leven is demanding the Dons end the season in style with another win to ensure they finish best of the rest.
He said: “We’ve set a target and we need to make sure we win up there. Ross County are playing for everything and it will be an interesting game.
“I set them the challenge of wanting to win every game. We’ve got a task to achieve of finishing top of the bottom six and there’s one more hurdle to go.”
Leven angry at clean sheet run being ended
Confidence is surging through the Dons squad after hitting form in the final two months of the campaign.
Leven has led the Dons on an eight-game unbeaten run in the Premiership with 20 points taken from a possible 24 – and wants one more win before he hands over to new manager Jimmy Thelin.
The last defeat was a 1-0 loss to Dundee at Dens Park on March 13 and has been built on a rock-solid defence which has conceded just two goals during that period.
The league record run of 565 minutes without conceding ended with Livingston’s second-half penalty following a handball by striker Ester Sokler on Wednesday.
For Leven it was the only negative of a rousing display and he remains unconvinced VAR got it right.
Leven said: “It’s nice to have the record considering how many goals we’ve conceded this season.
“But I was absolutely raging we lost a goal. If I’m going to be critical I’m raging we conceded.
“Ester was adamant it wasn’t a penalty. He says he was pushed onto it. It takes so long and if it not clear and obvious it shouldn’t be a penalty.
“It killed the clean sheet which I’ve been trying to drum into the players.
“I’ve said if we don’t concede we’ve always got a chance of winning games with the quality we’ve got.
“We were a little sloppy in the first half and we spoke at half-time about being clinical, hitting the target and taking our chances.
“If we did that we would score, and to be fair to the players their heads didn’t go down after conceding the goal.”
‘Every day in training he is at it’
Leven was able to ring the changes for the final home game and did so as he left out five players from the team which beat Hibernian 4-0 at Easter Road on Sunday.
Leading scorer Bojan Miovski was among those who had a brief cameo off the bench.
In his absence Junior Hoilett enjoyed the chance to take centre stage by scoring twice and having a hand in two other goals.
Leven, who has recommended Canadian international Hoilett should be offered a new deal, said: “Every day in training he is at it.
“He’s encouraging the younger players and you can see his quality. His receiving skills on the ball, he gets us up the pitch and he terrifies defenders.
“His goals and assists are quality.”
Another player Leven hopes remains at Pittodrie is 26-goal striker Miovski.
The Dons are braced for receiving big offers for the North Macedonian international but Leven said: “He’s got a two-year contract so I hope he’s back in the summer.
“There will be interest in Bojan and a few players. He’s been great this season but he’s under contract for another two years.”
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