McGhee insists his long-term vision for Aberdeen remains the same

Manager Mark McGhee has urged Aberdeen not to get involved in a relegation battle after watching his side suffer their 11th league defeat of the season.

The Dons sit in seventh place after the 1-0 home loss to Hearts.

"Falling eight points behind Hearts, even with a game in hand, makes it unlikely that we'll finish in the top six," McGhee told BBC Scotland

"We have to be realistic and make sure we don't get into some sort of relegation scrap."

Aberdeen have managed only seven wins in the Scottish Premier League this season and Saturday's defeat was their second in succession on league duty.

"We have to put as much daylight between ourselves and the bottom team as possible," McGhee said.

"What that's going to take is togetherness. It's not going to take the squad, as small as it is, fragmenting.

"We're going to need the lads that are on loan to appreciate that they're here to help us and we're going to ask them a little bit over and above the call of duty.

"We're going to ask the lads who are out of contract, who may now be thinking about other things, that they owe it to their own team-mates, the fans who have supported them and the club who have paid them, to make sure they finish the season professionally and strongly and that they help us in every way they can.

"And, of course, the players who are going to be here next year want to be playing in the right division and want to be starting the season on a positive note. We've all got something to play for."

McGhee was satisfied with the effort of his team in the defeat by Hearts but bemoaned a lack of quality in attacking areas, with the visitors having Laryea Kingston sent off.

"Certainly, when they went down to 10 men, I thought we were going to win the game," McGhee said.

"Ultimately, we didn't have enough quality, particularly in forward areas, to turn possession and territorial advantage into chances, shots and goals.

"We're suckered by a disappointing goal. It stemmed from us not keeping the ball up front, them counter-attacking, a loose ball going up in the air and falling kindly, and a good finish.

"We've ended up losing a match I fell as if we've conspired to lose.

"I don't think that Hearts did a lot more than us in terms of trying to win the game, but they've ended up with the three points.

It's a little bit more difficult than I imagined but the job's the same as I took on Mark McGhee

"Just at the moment, it's not quite working out for us. It's not quite turning into the quality of performance we need.

"Today, I didn't have a lot of question marks over attitude. We simply didn't play well."

Meanwhile, McGhee insists recent results, which have also included defeats by Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup and Falkirk in the league, have not changed his long-term vision for the Pittodrie side.

"We have a plan in terms of what we're trying to do for next season," added McGhee.

"We would have hoped to have been better off at this stage in the competition regardless of that, but it's proven difficult.

"In the short term, we've got a hard job on our hands. In the long term, nothing has changed from the day I got here.

"It's a little bit more difficult than I imagined, but the job's the same as I took on.

"We realised that we were going to start working off the back of the young players and that we were going to build a squad around that and that that was going to take some time.

"There was going be some change because we knew there were players out of contract who look as if they were wanting to leave.

"There are players already gone, so we knew we had work to do, but that has changed from the day I got here."

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