Keeper Dimitar Mitov fears Aberdeen will have to win the remaining three Premiership games of the season to keep alive their bid to finish third.
And the Bulgaria international admits even that may not be enough after a 1-0 loss at St Mirren damaged hopes of a third placed finish.
Mitov says the Dons squad know how important securing third is to the club and the supporters – and they will fight to the end in the bid to deliver.
Aberdeen now trail third-placed Hibs by three points, with the Easter Road club also holding a superior goal advantage.
Mitov, 28, said: “Now it’s pretty much not in our hands.
“We need to win every single game and Hibs need to slip up, which is something we cannot control.
“But what we can control is our performance in the remaining games of the season.
“This group has bounced back really quickly before and I’m positive we can do it again.
“Finishing third has been the aim all season and we are going to do absolutely everything we can to do that.”
Aberdeen suffered defeat at St Mirren courtesy of a Mikael Mandron goal in the second half.
Fired up for away clash at Rangers
Next up for the Reds is an away clash against second-placed Rangers on Sunday.
Mitov insists they will travel to Ibrox with no fear.
The keeper said: “We need to be absolutely at it in every single remaining game of the season and not just because it is Ibrox.
“We want to be third because we know how much it means to us, how much it means to the club and to our supporters.
“Of course, we go there (Ibrox) with no fear.
“We respect everybody, but we go there with no fear.
“We’re trying to do the things we do well and play our football.
“When we do that, we’re a very good team.
“I’m sure when we stick to the basics and things we do well, we’ll look very dangerous.
“The loss at St Mirren is one of those afternoons we need to forget as quick as possible.
“We need to clear our heads and go into the next game with a positive mindset.”
Aberdeen have now suffered three straight defeats to St Mirren for the first time since 2011.
Frustration at St Mirren’s winner
The Reds are now 10 games without a victory against the Buddies in Paisley, with the last win under Derek McInnes in December 2018.
Mitov was clearly frustrated at a loss that ended Aberdeen’s eight game unbeaten run in all competitions, and damaged the bid for third.
On conceding the Mandron goal Mitov said: “It’s a very, very frustrating one because they have a specific style of play.
“They play with long balls and play with second balls.
“I generally felt we dealt with them quite well all game.
“But there was a double deflection off Mats’ (Knoester) head and it lands in front of the striker’s feet.
“And he just puts it in the bottom corner.
“Sometimes, as much as you want to defend, things like that just happen.
“We were really unfortunate to be on the back of one.”
Aberdeen failed to register a single shot on target against St Mirren despite boss Jimmy Thelin’s starting XI containing pace and attacking threat.
‘How many saves did the other goalkeeper make?’
Thelin started with wingers Jeppe Okkels, Topi Keskinen and Shayden Morris in behind striker Kevin Nisbet in a 4-2-3-1.
Mitov accepts the Dons must sharpen their attacking edge for the clash with Rangers.
He said: “It just didn’t happen for us going forward against St Mirren.
“I always ask myself this question, ‘How many saves did the other goalkeeper make today?’
“In my memory, I don’t think he’s made any.
“We need to look at how we can improve because we had a lot of possession of the ball.
“I felt like in transition we were creating much but we were not testing the goalkeeper.
“That’s something for us we’re definitely going to have to analyse and see where we can improve.
“St Mirren are very good at defending crosses.
“We just didn’t find that gap maybe between the defence and midfield where we like to.
“There’s definitely a lesson to be learned from this game going forward.”
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