Gothenburg Great Neale Cooper believes it is vital Aberdeen avoid any prolonged hangover from their surprise defeat by Rangers.
The Dons, beaten 3-0 at Pittodrie on Sunday, will look to bounce back when they travel to McDiarmid Park to take on St Johnstone on Saturday.
It will be Derek McInnes’ side’s final match before their Scottish Cup semi-final with Hibernian and Cooper believes
He said: “It is important to get a positive result against St Johnstone.
“The team will want to go into the semi-final on the back of a win.
“I think they will bounce back this weekend.
“The players will be angry with what happened against Rangers on Sunday.
“They will be fired up for this match, no doubt about it.
“They have had an excellent season and I can’t see Rangers catching them for second place.
“Sometimes a wee kick up the backside can help.
“Things have been going very well for Aberdeen recently.
“But they worked hard and played some fantastic football to get those results.
“I have really enjoyed watching them this season.
“Sunday was disappointing but the way to rectify it is to win at St Johnstone and then beat Hibernian in the semi-final.”
Cooper felt Rangers were flattered by the eventual 3-0 scoreline against the Dons.
He added: “It was a strange game.
“The Rangers goalkeeper Wes Foderingham played well and Rangers were very good at pressing all over the park.
“They didn’t give the Aberdeen players a lot of time on the ball.
“That forced the mistakes at the back which resulted in goals.
“Aberdeen didn’t look to be in too much danger and then within the space of four minutes they were 3-0 down.
“Did they deserve to lose 3-0? I don’t think so. They dominated for large parts of the game.
“They didn’t take their chances and made mistakes for the goals, which is something they haven’t done for much of the season.”