Aberdeen can secure their highest finish in 21 years on Saturday if they avoid defeat at Inverness, but defender Mark Reynolds insists the best has yet to come.
Derek McInnes’ side look likely to fall short in their surprise Scottish Premiership title challenge as Celtic hold an eight-point lead with five games remaining after the 2-1 win at Dundee last night.
Barring a dramatic finale to the campaign there will be no silverware but defender Reynolds, captain in the absence of the injured Russell Anderson for most of the campaign, believes he and his team-mates have improved on last season.
He said: “There has definitely been progression when you look at the goals for and against columns. We’ve scored more and conceded fewer which is progress in itself, but we feel this team is a work in progress and there is much more to come. We haven’t come anywhere close to peaking.”
Aberdeen ended a 19-year wait for a trophy when they won the League Cup in March 2014, but Reynolds is pleased his club has been determined a trophy win will not be the end of the journey.
He said: “There have been teams who have won a trophy in the past and then done nothing else, but we’ve tried to build on our success by playing well and winning games.
“We’ve found different ways to win as we showed against Inverness a couple of weeks ago at Pittodrie when we scored from a set piece and then defended strongly to restrict them to a couple of long range efforts. We’re adding different dimensions to our game all the time.
For the second year running the price of success will be another early start to the following campaign for the Dons with another early June return for pre-season training.
European football will be back on the menu at Pittodrie with the first qualifying round match scheduled for July 2.
But with manager McInnes’ transfer activity in the summer expected to be minor Reynolds insists the Dons are well placed already for the new campaign.
He said: “The foundations have been set by the manager and he has got the main body of his team now.
“His first season he made eight or nine changes, but he only made three or four last year and there will likely only be three or four this summer.”