Aberdeen winger and former Celtic player Jonny Hayes has all but admitted Aberdeen can give up hope on catching the Hoops in second place after a poor run of form.

Speaking to Not the Old Firm, the Dons star made the admission after his side were defeated 2-0 by Hibernian, saying at this stage that they make need to focus on the Leith side in the chase for 3rd right now.

“Earlier in the season, we weren’t scoring that many goals, but we were looking more secure at the back. More recently, individual errors have crept in and that’s proved costly for us, especially when you look at the bigger picture.

“A misplaced pass, not tracking a runner, all our mistakes seem to be getting punished all the time. That’s the kind of run we’re in, and that’s cost us a lot of points. It’s important we finish as high up the league as possible. The battle now is to try and catch Hibs and we have to treat every single game we have left as a cup final.

“We know how important European football is to the club, how much it impacts on the budgets, and we know how much the manager and the fans want to achieve European football again.”

With how poor Neil Lennon’s side have been this season, some were starting to get a little concerned about not even finishing within the top two places.

Now that may seem like a stretch but some of the forms we have been on this season hasn’t been of a top-two side and a little concerning at times.

There is still a chance that the likes of Hibs could catch that the Hoops. However, it does look unlikely and if we’re being honest Celtic have enough strength to finish there but we know that we can’t afford to get slack at any point.