Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes believes the cup-tie atmosphere away from home can help his side overcome their Pittodrie blues this weekend.
The Dons return to league duty on Saturday when they travel to Hearts.
Dons boss McInnes believes the trip to Edinburgh to face the Jambos will bring out the best from his players as they take a break from trying to improve their disappointing recent home form.
It has been a bizarre run for the Dons, who head for Tynecastle on a run of eight wins and one draw from their last nine away matches. It is a stark contrast to one win in nine at home in a run dating back to Boxing Day.
McInnes said: “We’re disappointed with a lot of the results at home and it is clear the players are enjoying playing away from home at the minute.
“We sell out our allocation almost everywhere we go and the atmosphere created by the fans has been fantastic. They have given the games on the road a real cup-tie feeling to them and the players clearly enjoy it.
“We’ll have a big support again at Tynecastle on Saturday and we’re looking forward to playing Hearts there. I know my players respond to having that big support behind them and hopefully we can come back up the road with the points.”
The Aberdeen manager shares in the frustration among the fans at not seeing the team winning at home on a regular basis but he insists there is no secret to why the Dons have found wins hard to come by at Pittodrie in recent months.
He said: “The Hamilton defeat was a really disappointing one but we have to accept they scored a worldy of a first goal. It was an unbelievable effort.
“Outwith the Hamilton result the only teams to have beaten us Pittodrie in our recent home run are Celtic and Rangers and we scored three goals against Celtic and two against Rangers in those defeats.
“We’ve drawn too many games at home for our liking. We’ve always shown an ability to grind wins out at home and one goal has been enough over the years in games where teams have come up, sat in and defended well.
“But recently we’ve been guilty in three or four games of losing poor goals.
“Our concentration on the road has been excellent but at home it has not been quite the same and when you are consistently not keeping clean sheets then you run the risk of dropping points and that’s what has happened at Pittodrie.”
