Keeper Joe Lewis has challenged Aberdeen to grind out a December winning streak to go into the winter break on a high.
The 34-year-old aims to go into the January shutdown with the Reds pushing hard in the Premiership top six.
Aberdeen have five games before the top flight goes into a three week hibernation on January 3.
Lewis anticipates December will throw up difficult circumstances with harsh weather conditions and injury absences.
He urged the Dons to shrug off any setbacks to grind out wins to start 2022 with a bang.
Lewis said: “The team that nails down a consistent run of form in December will be in a good position come the break.
“We aim to do that to be in much better shape in January.
“There are plenty of games in December and consistency needs to be the key.
“This is an opportunity for us to kick on, put a run together and have a really good month.
“We’re ready to knuckle down and make sure it’s an excellent month for us.”
Opportunity to build momentum
Aberdeen have began December with back to back Pittodrie wins against St Mirren (4-1) and Livingston (2-0),
Lewis feels the disruption to the Premiership campaign by international breaks for World Cup qualifiers in recent month has prevented the opportunity to build real winning momentum.
December will be the first month since August there has been a clean run of Premiership games with no international break.
Lewis aims to take advantage by racking up the victories.
He said: “The international breaks in September, October and November can make the league season feel disjointed.
“It can disrupt the league campaign a little bit and make it difficult to go on a run.
“This month is now a good opportunity for us to kick on.”
Aberdeen’s defensive injury crisis
Aberdeen’s season has also been hit by a defensive injury crisis with little continuity in the back three, or four, playing in front of Lewis.
Skipper Scott Brown had to drop from midfield into the heart of the defensive three recently due to the injury crisis.
Brown moved back into midfield against St Mirren but midfielder Funso Ojo was utilised at right-back with winger Jonny Hayes at left-back.
Aberdeen’s defensive injury problems eased slightly with Scotland international centre-back Declan Gallagher returning from a six game lay-off with a hamstring injury.
Gallagher, 30, was an unused substitute in the defeat of St Mirren.
Aberdeen hope left-back Jack MacKenzie will recover from an ankle injury to be available for selection for Saturday’s trip to St Johnstone.
Defenders Calvin Ramsay (thigh), Andy Considine (cruciate ligament) and Mikey Devlin (ankle) remain out with winger Matty Kennedy (back) also sidelined.
Considine stepped up his recovery from cruciate ligament surgery in August by this week returning to work on grass.
Another Milestone ✅ can’t beat that feeling of being back on the grass 🏃🏽 @AberdeenFC pic.twitter.com/tSkrFfb44i
— Andrew Considine (@AndyConsie4) December 6, 2021
Grind out victories despite injuries
Lewis insists Aberdeen must battle through the injury problems to ‘grind’ out wins before the winter break.
He said: “You can’t control injuries so it’s a case of just getting on with it.
“You would love to have the same back four all season and always keeping clean sheets.
“That’s not been the case for a variety of reasons and we have had to just try to find a way to win games.
“It’s not always going to be perfect and it’s not always going to be easy.
“There are going to be difficult conditions and difficult circumstances.
“It’s about grinding out wins sometimes in those circumstances when you have to.
“The teams that deal with injuries and suspensions the best will come out the better at the end of the campaign.
“That’s what we want to do as three points and winning games are the most important thing.”
Aberdeen rediscover winning form
Aberdeen have emerged from a slump in form that yielded just two wins in 15 games in all competitions.
In beating St Mirren and Livingston the Dons secured back to back Premiership wins since the first two fixtures of the league campaign.
Lewis insists it was a lack of clinical edge in defence and attack that had been culpable during that slump.
With the Reds’ attack netting four against St Mirren and the centre-back partnership of David Bates and Ross McCrorie beginning to gel that looks to have been fixed.
Lewis said: “The performances hadn’t been a million miles away in general but it has been that cutting edge at both ends that let us down at times.
“Every game is really difficult this season and I think you will see a lot of teams chucking in surprise results.
“It’s very good to see Ross (McCrorie) and David (Bates) forming a good partnership.”
