Gordonians face a potentially season-defining trip to Newton Stewart tomorrow as they try to close the gap on the teams above them at the bottom of National 2.
The National 3 champions are second bottom of the division in their first season in the league, six points adrift of third bottom Falkirk.
With the bottom two dropping down at the end of the season, the Dons face a crucial game at eighth-placed Newton Stewart this afternoon and it is a trip captain Danny Osugo believes his team-mates should relish.
He said: “We beat Newton Stewart twice last year so we are going into this game with confidence.
“Both games we won were hard fought and I don’t expect this meeting to be any different. They’re a strong side with some quality players but we believe we can win.
“If we work hard and put in a good performance we know this is a side we are capable of beating.”
Life in National 2 continues to prove challenging for the league newcomers who have conceded 89 points and scored 12 in their last two matches.
Osugo, however, is staying upbeat although he believes there are lessons which can be learned from the first half of the campaign.
He said: “In our first season in National 3 we struggled in the first half of the season before rallying in the second round of games but National 2 has been even more ruthless.
“It took us a long while to find our verve and has become clear we are going to have to adapt our playing style in this league. The teams in this league are more tactically adept, especially in the breakdown and they all have tremendous nous.
“If you lose possession in your own half to an opposing team they will inevitably score and it does feel as if every mistake we make is punished.
“That ruthless approach and execution is something we have to replicate in our team.”