Niall McGinn insists the Scottish Cup remains a top priority for Aberdeen.
The Dons have had several near misses in the competition in recent years, making the semi-finals in 2018 and 2019, after losing to Celtic 2-1 in the final three years ago.
They begin their quest for silverware in this season’s competition on Saturday at home to Dumbarton, on the back of their training camp in Dubai.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Dons’ last triumph in the competition and their only trophy success, in six nearly seven years of progress under Derek McInnes, is the 2014 League Cup.
McGinn, who has been present for most of their forays into the latter stages of the competition, is adamant it is a competition they can be successful in.
He said: “It’s a massive target for the team. In my time here we’ve always done well in the Scottish Cup, getting to semi-finals and finals, and won the League Cup a few years ago. But we can’t keep speaking about the past and what we’ve achieved before.
“It’s nice to get to the semi-finals but you want to go a step further and win the trophy. It’s always going to be difficult – it’s about getting a bit of luck along the way and we know Saturday is not going to be an easy game.
“I would have hoped to have a couple of more medals; quite early in my career at Aberdeen we won the League Cup but it’s been frustrating, as we’ve been to semi-finals and finals and there’s been a lot of disappointments.
“I want to get that Scottish Cup medal with Aberdeen and this is now an opportunity for us. We’ve got a home tie and an opportunity to get into the next round.”
Those runs deep into the competition have come off the back of their winter breaks in Dubai, with the first one in 2017 coinciding with getting to the final.
McGinn hopes their sojourn to the Middle East can have similar benefits this season.
He added: “It’s a long season when you’ve got plenty of games. Having that week off last week was good for us, to enjoy some time off and recharge our batteries.
“It allows you to rest and recover and go again. We’ve always come back and hit the ground. We’ve got a busy schedule with some important games, against Motherwell and Dumbarton.
“Training camps can benefit not only the team and players initially, but hopefully in the long run too.”