Captain Graeme Shinnie has warned Aberdeen “must stand up and be counted” to win the battle to finish third in the Premiership.
Midfielder Shinnie reckons the race for third is the closest it has been for years as a host of clubs battle it out to land the potential rewards.
A third-placed Premiership finish could secure a second qualifying round spot for the Europa League next season.
Shinnie was left frustrated as Aberdeen suffered a setback in the scrap for third by drawing 0-0 at Premiership bottom club St Johnstone.
A win would have jumped Aberdeen beyond Hibs into third spot as the Edinburgh club were held 1-1 by Kilmarnock.
Aberdeen entering ‘crunch time’
After the goal-less stalemate at St Johnstone the Reds remain one point behind Hibs – with only eight games remaining in the league campaign.
Shinnie, 33, said: “It’s crunch time in the season and we’ve got to stand up and be counted.
“We have definitely shown through the first part of the season what we can do.
“At this stage of the campaign it is very important to win games so that is what we have to do.
“We want to get a run of wins going and see where that takes us.
“We have a reset now over the international break and will then come back working hard for Motherwell.”
Aberdeen have now failed to score in six of their last eight away Premiership games.
‘We didn’t have enough going forward’
The Dons struggled to create any clear scoring chances of note in Perth.
Shinnie accepts that is a problem that must quickly be solved.
He said: “We didn’t have enough going forward.
“When you keep a clean sheet you would also expect to have scored.
“If you keep a clean sheet you expect to win.
“I thought we had reasonable control of the game.
“They had a couple of moments in the first half, but overall we limited them to little.
“However we didn’t create enough in the game and that was a big problem for us and frustrating.
“It was a mix of everything.
“Not getting into good enough areas, not getting crosses into the box and making the wrong decisions in certain areas.
“We were in control, especially in the second half, and tried to push as much as we can.
“But we just didn’t have that killer instinct at the end.”
Aberdeen made a sensational start to the Premiership campaign by racing to 11 games undefeated, with 10 wins.
Closest race for Europe in years
The Reds secured 31 points from the opening 33.
Whilst Aberdeen were red hot, Hibs and Hearts floundered.
However the Dons suffered a 14-game winless run in the Premiership.
Now the Reds are trailing Hibs in the race for third and Hearts have broken into the top six.
Shinnie said: “We went on a really bad run, one of the worst in the league I think.
“Other teams have been winning so it is very tight.
“It’s probably the tightest I’ve seen it in my years, to be fair, from 11th up to sort of third and fourth.
“There’s not much in it.
“Last year, Hearts ran away with it in third.
“This year, it’s wide open so there’s that frustration we didn’t win the game against St Johnstone.
“It’s important we take care of your own business.”
Aberdeen failed to grab the opportunity to overtake Hibs into third place.
Chance to overtake Hibs missed
The Easter Road club were held 1-1 by Kilmarnock.
Shinnie said: “That’s the frustration.
“When teams around you drop points you want to capitalise on that.
“It’s disappointing we weren’t able to do that to go above them.
“However they’ve not pulled away from us, which is the only positive.”
The Aberdeen board bankrolled manager Jimmy Thelin in the summer and January transfer windows.
More than £2million has been splashed out on signings.
Major investment in Aberdeen squad
Shinnie was asked with the money invested in the squad should Aberdeen be higher in the table?
He said: “That’s for you to discuss, money spent and whatever else.
“We want to be where we want to be in the league.
“We know what we’ve got to do and we’ve still got a chance to do it.
“That’s our focus, is on reaching our targets.”
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