Gordonians assistant head coach Ryan Morrice accepts this weekend’s showdown against Peebles could be pivotal in his side’s hopes of avoiding relegation from National 2.
The Aberdeen side, sitting second bottom with six games to go, welcome Peebles to Countesswells this Saturday.
They head into the match on the back of a 27-8 defeat by Kirkcaldy last Friday and Morrice knows his side must find form quickly.
He said: “We have to accept the situation we are in.
“We are in a scrap to stay up but we are confident we can do it.
“The Peebles result on Saturday will go a long way to determining how our season ends up.
“If we win we will get a bit of confidence back into the side and we can push on from there.
“Two teams go down and we are sitting second bottom as it stands.
“It was a tough result against Kirkcaldy last Friday and things didn’t go our way.
“We had possession and chances but we didn’t make the most of them.
“Our discipline let us down and it is important we get our discipline right this Saturday.
“We can’t be giving away 20-plus penalties and expect to win games.”
Peebles, who are in eighth spot, won 46-18 when the sides met earlier this season in November.
Morrice said: “We have to win the game this Saturday, I don’t think there is any question about that.
“Time is running out and we need points.
“It is still in our hands to get out of this but if we lose on Saturday we would need help from other sides.
“We are confident we can get out of this position.”
Morrice admits it has been a challenging, transitional season at Countesswells but believes progress has been made.
He said: “We have a young side this season.
“At one point the average of the team on the pitch was 21.
“We have to accept that they are going to make mistakes as it is the first time playing at this level for a lot of these players.
“We hit a bit of form before Christmas and the break came at the wrong time for us.
“That break was extended because of Covid rates increasing and it has been quite fragmented recently due to the Six Nations which hasn’t helped us much.
“But we know what we need to do in our remaining games and that is what we are focused on.”
With Aberdeen Grammar having already been relegated from the Premiership, Morrice is keen to avoid another north-east demotion but believes both clubs have been grappling with similar issues this term.
He said: “I don’t know what happens at Aberdeen Grammar so it is difficult to comment on that but there is a small pool of players in Aberdeen.
“We don’t have the same number of people coming to work in Aberdeen and people can work from home a lot more.
“Everyone is fighting to recruit the same players.
“There is no simple answer but it is a wider problem.
“Covid hasn’t helped because there are guys who would have played for another couple of years but decided to stop after the 18-month break due to the pandemic.
“Everyone’s priorities changed because of Covid and some people didn’t want to spend a few hours sitting on a bus on a Saturday anymore.
“There isn’t the same playing pool in the city but we have a good group of young players and we are trying to build for the future.”