Barry Robson takes things one step at a time as Aberdeen target top-three finish

Aberdeen caretaker manager Barry Robson has eyes only on Friday’s cinch Premiership visit to Ross County, despite his side climbing into third place thanks to their win over Kilmarnock.

The Dons took the lead after just 16 seconds through Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes, and the Cape Verde striker added a second just before the hour to seal three points for the Dons, who climbed above Hearts into third spot.

However, Robson said after the 2-0 Pittodrie success: “I genuinely haven’t thought about it [the league position].

“That’s what I am and that’s where we are. I said to the players to enjoy tonight, but we come in on Monday and we move on.

“We have a really difficult game against Ross County, which is a really difficult game on a tight pitch and we need to focus on that.

“Third place is where everybody wants to be, Hearts, Hibs and us. There’s a long way to go for that, and we’re not thinking about that at the moment.”

Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes has seen his side win just one of their last five games, but sees the battle to move away from a play-off spot as being won and lost against teams near Killie in the table.

The former Dons manager explained: “From our point of view we need to lick our wounds a wee bit, take the positives from the game and see those improvements going forward.

“Five of our last seven games are against teams around and about us. Our level of performance has been good of late and there were times today that it wasn’t straightforward for Aberdeen.

“We’ll hang onto that and hopefully get Kyle Vassell back for next week, he was a big loss for us today, and maybe have more of a punch at the top end of the park.”