Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin admits Aberdeen's fight to stay in the Premiership just got real after racking up one of the most unwanted defensive records in British football.
The Dons are now the only team on either side of the border not to have managed a clean sheet in the league on the back of a run of only one win from their last 14 outings.
Alarm bells are now ringing at Pittodrie as they sit five points ahead of second bottom St Johnstone in the relegation play-off spot.
Goodwin believes a combination of low confidence and bad luck was the story of their weekend defeat to Livingston but the Pittodrie boss is adamant there will be no hiding place against Dundee on Saturday with three points a long overdue priority.
He said: “We need a win. It’s as simple as that and Saturday is not going to be easy either.
“There are no easy games in this league regardless of who you are playing – whether it’s a top team or a bottom team.
“But I think if we play the way we have played in possession then more often than not I think we will win more games than we will lose.
“There seems to be a little bit of bad luck, not getting too many big calls going in our favour, not getting the break of the ball a lot of the time.That’s part and parcel of football. We have to go again and we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.
“We need to try to beat Dundee and put it all to bed.
“We can’t dress it up any other way. I thought we were the better team against Livingston, the boys gave their all, unfortunately there is a real lack of confidence at the moment, throughout the group and at the top end of the pitch. That is there for all to see.
“We have to just go and dust ourselves down and put things right against Dundee. We need to go and try to win as many games between now and the end of the season."
Goodwin's personal record since arriving at Pittodrie is one win in eight games after replacing Stephen Glass and the Irishman insists nobody is shying away from their current predicament when asked if his side are now in the midst of a fight to stay up this season.
He said: “I am not arrogant enough to sit here and think we are not in it. We are. We are very much in it.
“We want to win the next four games, it’s as simple as that. St Johnstone and Dundee are fighting for their lives and played out a draw. Dundee will come up here quite buoyant I would imagine off the back of that.
“We will just have to look after ourselves and concentrate on what we can do.
"“I don’t think we played all that badly against Livingston on Saturday and our game against Ross County a couple of weeks ago was a similar scenario to how today’s game panned out. We were in complete control, dominating the game and a penalty decision.
“I think that’s three penalties in eight games or something. I have not been on a run like that as a manager up to now.
“Hopefully we can cut out those errors if you like, those big decisions going against us, and be a little more clinical at the top end of the pitch."
Goodwin also explained his reasoning for starting with Christian Ramirez on the bench against the Lions with the main attacking role going to Marley Watkins.
He said: “Christian has played a hell of a lot of football this season and we have had to rely heavily on him.
“We haven’t really had any other option in that striking position. Prior to coming to the club he had played a lot of football in the MLS as well. He hasn’t really had a break and I think it has probably shown in the last three or four weeks.
“With Marley Watkins back now we feel we have got Marley to a level of fitness and he's obviously going to be a hell of a lot fresher.
“We need to give Marley as many games as we can between now and the end of the season. Christian has scored some important goals for the club this season. I thought when he went on for the last 20 minutes he actually added a bit of quality to the team.
“It gives us another option but that was the decision behind that."
