They can leapfrog the Fir Park men with a win at Hamilton on Tuesday night, a fact that boss McInnes was keen to stress at his pre-match media conference.

He said: "It is tough but football is like this at times.

"We are probably judged with Hibs and Hearts and both those clubs would grab our league position right now.

"They would grab the opportunity to go third tomorrow.

"While we are not satisfied with our lot at the minute, we can clearly see we need so much to improve upon, but we are going for third spot this season and I believe we will get there.

"We are a team that is capable of winning at Hamilton and getting a run of good results that gets us to that third spot.

"This is a tough period for us, I get that, but we need to back ourselves and trust ourselves and the answers are in the building to get the job done.

"Even if we finish third and get a brilliant cup run it still might not be enough for some.

"But the majority of our support would see us finishing third in the league and having a strong cup run as some sort of satisfaction for the season."

If Aberdeen get past Kilmarnock in the replay on February 19 they will face either Motherwell or St Mirren away in the quarter-finals.

McInnes said: "We look forward to that when it comes around again and we are encouraged by the draw as well.

"It is an opportunity maybe to get the club into a semi-final but hopefully we go into the replay in good form."