Andrew Considine explains what Aberdeen must do to overhaul Hibs and seal third place

Andrew Considine knows strange things can happen in football and after scoring once in ten outings, Aberdeen then going on to win their last five matches of the season would certainly be considered outlandish.

20-year-old Aberdeen defender Jack MacKenzie will hope to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Considine after making his debut in the 1-0 defeat to Dundee United on Saturday (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

But that is what the defender believes the Pittodrie side have to do overhaul Hibs in third place. He has already seen a lot in his long Aberdeen career but nothing like this. Even when Ross McCrorie was presented with a free header in the dying moments of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Dundee United, the ball ballooned over the bar. “We’ve all got to take responsibility, not just forward players,” said Considine. Adrian Sporle’s strike just after the hour mark proved decisive.

Winning all five matches means beating Rangers, Celtic, Livingston, St Johnstone as well as the Easter Road side in an order yet to be confirmed. As he has acknowledged, it’s a tall order.

If one is being strictly accurate, Considine is the last Aberdeen player to score a goal. That was 11 games ago. Callum Hendry struck the winner against Kilmarnock last month but then he is on loan from St Johnstone. And how glad are Aberdeen for Hendry’s header now. Without it they would be languishing a further two points behind Hibs and the guarantee of European football until Christmas would already surely be beyond them.

As it stands, it’s going to be difficult enough for Aberdeen. They won’t get there with five 0-0s, which seems the best they can hope given their continued struggles up front. After Hendry’s winner halted a club record run of six games without a goal, Aberdeen have embarked on another sequence of blanks which now stands at three successive matches.

Hendry’s goal remains the only one since Considine added to Tommie Hoban’s opener in the 2-0 win over Motherwell on 23 January. Aberdeen were then two points in front of Hibs with a game in hand. Now they are trailing the Easter Road side by seven points.

“It's going to be very hard to finish third now, but anything can happen in football,” admitted Considine. “We've still got Hibs to play and I feel we need to win pretty much every game we have left to make sure of third.

"That's going to be a tough ask, but we all believe we can still do it, there is definite belief in the dressing room. We were all angry that we couldn't find the back of the net on Saturday, but there was some good football. It's going to be a big ask, but strange things can happen in football.”

Considine can see some reason for cheer in the number of youths now coming through at the club. The 33-year-old was joined by a 20-year-old in defence on Saturday as Jack MacKenzie made his senior debut for the club. Calvin Ramsay did likewise when he made a late appearance at right back. Both are locals and will do well to have half the career Considine has enjoyed at Pittodrie.

"I've felt Jack has been ready for a while,” said the veteran, who will join up with Scotland this week for World Cup qualifiers against Austria, Israel and the Faroe Isles. "We’ve got a really good crop of young lads at Aberdeen and it's just giving them a chance.”

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription. https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions