Defender Anthony Scales accepts Aberdeen are underachieving but is confident they can still win the battle to finish third in the Premiership.
The Reds have crashed to three successive defeats since returning from the winter shutdown.
A 3-1 defeat at St Mirren represented another low following home losses to Rangers and Celtic.
On-loan Celtic defender Scales believes the Dons have paid the price for individual mistakes.
He warns those errors must be eradicated to get back on track – starting at Kilmarnock on Wednesday.
Scales said: “We’re obviously aiming for third place and there’s no reason why we can’t achieve that.
“We should have put more points on the board.
“We’d have a gap of five or six points if it weren’t for a couple of wee mistakes in the last two or three matches.
“I think the fans know that as well.
“They have high expectations for us, and rightly so.
“We are underachieving a bit, but we’ll get better.”
The evident cost of individual errors
The cost of individual errors was evident in the loss at St Mirren on Saturday.
Aberdeen were leading 1-0 via a superb long-range strike from Matty Kennedy.
However, the game turned in the 35th minute when an error by Anthony Stewart led to the captain being dispossessed. He gave away a penalty when fouling Jonah Ayunga in a bid to win back the ball and was also red carded.
Scales’ centre-back partner Stewart is now suspended for the Premiership trip to Kilmarnock on Wednesday.
In Stewart’s absence, Scales accepts extra onus will be on him to lead at the back.
He said: “Ant has been great for us, so solid in the middle of the back three.
“So we’ll have to reshuffle a bit for the next two games.
“We’ll just have to make an effort to be extra solid, because he does lead us well.
“Myself and the other players around me will have to take a bit more responsibility to lead the team.”
Aberdeen ‘target Burnley defender’
Scales – who cannot play against parent club Celtic due to the terms of his loan agreement – and Stewart are the only senior central defenders at the club, although midfielder Ross McCrorie has been utilised in a back three recently.
Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin aims to secure signings to strengthen his defensive options in the January window.
The Reds have been linked with a January move for Burnley’s Republic of Ireland international defender Kevin Long.
Long, 32, is out of contract at Turf Moor next summer.
Republic of Ireland international Long has not played a minute of football for Burnley under boss Vincent Kompany this season.
Hibs are also reportedly interested in the 17-times-capped defender.
Meanwhile, Aberdeen are ready to step up their bid to sign Tranmere Rovers defender Josh Dacres-Cogley.
The 26-year-old’s contract expires at the end of the season and the Dons are keen on bringing the attacking right-back to Pittodrie.
‘We’ve been unlucky away from home’
Before the transfer window opens, Aberdeen have one final game, away to Kilmarnock on Wednesday.
The Dons have won just two of nine away Premiership fixtures this season.
Scales said: “I do think we’ve been unlucky away from home.
“We lost a goal with the last kick at Ross County (1-1 draw) and then everyone knows what happened on Saturday (at St Mirren).
“We’ve been performing quite well away from home – although there have been a couple of poor performances.
“Hopefully we can turn up at Kilmarnock, because we need to.
“We haven’t really had any luck in the past week and have suffered from individual mistakes that have cost us.
“So we know it is massive for us to go away to Kilmarnock and get three points on the board.
“We know how tough it is going to be down there.
“They make it hard on their surface, but it is huge for us to go there and win.”
Aberdeen have scored superb goals in the last two defeats.
Matty Kennedy netted a sensational long-range drive against St Mirren and Duk and Leighton Clarkson both netted impressive goals against Rangers.
But that attacking creativity has been undone by defensive mistakes.
Scales said: “We scored some great goals against Rangers and St Mirren.
“But little individual errors at the back have cost us.
“Every mistake we make seems to be getting punished at the moment.
“An example was the first penalty we conceded against St Mirren.
“It definitely looked outside the box and I don’t know how that was given as a penalty to be honest.
“We just haven’t had the rub of the green at all.
“Then they hit the post with the penalty, it bounces out and hits Kelle (Roos, keeper) and goes in – that kind of sums it up.
“Ramadani hit the bar and there was a big chance missed at the back post as well (with St Mirren leading 2-1). It’s all a matter of inches.
“But we’ve got to group together.
“It’s been a tough little period, but we’ll come out of it.”
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