Dundee United coach Darren Jackson admits to casting envious eyes Aberdeen’s way ahead of the Tangerines’ trip to Pittodrie.
It wasn’t so long ago that United and the Dons were both viewed as possible challengers to the hegemony of Celtic.
While Derek McInnes’s side have doggedly hung on in there in second spot, the best United can now hope for from their position 19 points behind Aberdeen is to catch Inverness Caley Thistle in third.
Victory on Saturday would move them to within just three points of the Highlanders with two fixtures against John Hughes’ men still to come.
Although they did secure a fabulous 3-0 victory in the Granite City on the opening day of the Premiership campaign, it will be a tall order to come down the A90 with three points again.
And Jackson admitted that he would have been loved to have been battling away with the Dons to be named best of the rest behind the Hoops.
“It is still in our hands to finish third, although Inverness have their own fate in their hands as well,” said Jackson.
“That is where all our focus is now.
“A lot of people have had a wee dig and we know ourselves that it hasn’t been good enough to go 10 games without a win (before beating Hamilton on Saturday), even though four of them were against Celtic.
“I guess, though, that the fact that we are sitting fourth shows how well the players did earlier in the season.
“I think what has disappointed everyone the staff and players is that we are not there competing with Aberdeen for second because that is where we wanted to be.
“A lot of things didn’t go our way and there are no doubt there were a few bad performances in there as well.
“We lost a few silly goals but the commitment and attitude has always been great and it’s a pleasure to come in here to training every day.
“However, we got our win on Saturday to end the bad run and now we are looking ahead rather than back.
“We have been chasing prizes all season and now we have the league finish and hopefully Europe to go for.
“We have been lucky enough to be in a cup final, then took Celtic to a replay in the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup and we are still chasing something.
“It has been not too bad a season and if we could get into third that would be a nice way to finish it off.”
Jackson is aware of the “special” attraction the Dons v United fixture has had over the years and is hoping for another good one on Saturday.
“It will be hard to go up there and win but we believe in the players that they can go there and do just that,” he said.
“Games against Aberdeen are always special and it has been interesting how it has gone between the teams.
“We won well up there on the first day of the season and then they beat us at Tannadice, only for us to go and win the League Cup semi-final on a great day at Hampden.
“So we will go up there with a bit of freedom to go and play our game, although with it being our game in hand over Inverness there is pressure on us to get something.
“It is important that we go up there and win it.”