Five league wins from six matches have pulled Aberdeen right back in the hunt to finish second in the Scottish Premiership, but defender Mark Reynolds is not about to start shouting from the rooftops about what his side can achieve.
Derek McInnes’ side is only one point behind second-placed Caley Thistle thanks to last week’s impressive 2-0 win against Dundee United at Tannadice and Inverness’ 4-0 home loss to Partick.
The Tangerines remain one position above the Dons but Jackie McNamara’s side travel to Glasgow to face leaders Celtic this weekend, while John Hughes’ Caley Thistle are at McDiarmid Park to face Scottish Cup holders St Johnstone.
The Dons could move into second place after Saturday’s home match against Kilmarnock on Saturday but Reynolds said: “We feel we have the squad to do well, but in the past players have claimed they will achieve this and that, but come the end of the season they have achieved none of them.
“They all become spectacular failures and get asked why they haven’t achieved what they set out to do.
“We are very guarded as to what we think we can do. We will just take it one game at a time, and that approach served us well last year.
“If we want to send out a signal of intent then we just need to keep beating whatever is put in front of us and picking up the three points.
“If we keep grinding out results then come the end of the season then we can look back on what we have done – we can show off a trophy or a position in the league rather than making predictions now.”
But while the Dons defender, who has been captaining the side in the absence of the injured Russell Anderson, is refusing to set targets for his team as they approach the halfway stage of the season, he is confident it is good enough for a sustained challenge at the top end of the table.
He added: “We have a smaller squad than we did last year but we have more potential starters.
“We have 16 or 17 players there that if the manager named them in the starting XI then there would be no surprise.
“If we do get an injury then we can bring somebody in who is equally capable of doing a job.
“It is good we have that strength and have players to bring off the bench who can change a game for us.”