There can be no mistakes when the Dons host Stranraer in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
Manager Derek McInnes wants his players to build on the momentum of the week-long training trip to Dubai which culminated in a 2-1 win against Uzbeks Bunyodkor at Jebel Ali on Sunday.
After reaching the League Cup final only to be well beaten by Celtic this season, McInnes is again targeting a tilt for silverware but knows it will be far from easy against a side scrapping for its League 1 status.
Stranraer have lost their last two matches, and four of the last five, including a 1-0 defeat at Stenhousemuir on Saturday, a result which pushed them to the bottom of the League 1 table and McInnes is wary of an upset.
He said: “Going three weeks during the winter break was just too long, especially going into the cup tie against Stranraer, and we have to make sure we are ready for that one.
“We are going to be up against opposition who have been playing every week, so we needed the match on Sunday.
“They were a decent side and it was important we had the players making decisions during the game. We just can’t replicate that in training and we did well with no injuries.
“I was wondering if we had done the right thing by arranging the match in Dubai but it gave us something to focus on throughout the week and to work towards.
“The bigger risk was not having the match for sharpness. Bunyodkor were playing their fourth game in the last 10 or 11 days, so they gave us decent opposition.
“We got what we wanted with no injuries. The win was a bonus but not the most important thing.”
The Dons squad flew back to Glasgow yesterday and have today off before returning to training tomorrow.
Midfielder Niall McGinn, who was rested from the trip joined team-mate Wes Burns, who spent last week with parent club Bristol City, in returning to training yesterday.
McInnes added: “We will only get the true value of the trip once we get going again but what we did have was six training sessions and focusing the players as we would do at the start of the season.
“Everything was good for us on and off the pitch and it was great to see the supporters coming out to see us.
“We needed to train, Paul Sheerin was working with the under-20s and they were not able to train outdoors all last week, so hopefully we can show the benefits of it when we get going again.”