Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass has warned his side need to get back on track against Dundee United to avoid sliding down the league table.

The Dons have had a topsy-turvy season so far. A promising start, which saw them win five out of six games, came to an abrupt stop with a Premier Sports Cup defeat by Raith Rovers.

That was the start of a 10-game run without victory which ended with five consecutive defeats.

The Dons then took seven points from games against Hibernian, Rangers and Hearts, but a 2-0 home defeat by Motherwell before the international break brought their revival screeching to a halt.

Aberdeen are in the bottom half of the cinch Premiership table ahead of Saturday’s north-east derby against Dundee United but can cut the gap on their Tannadice hosts to three points.

Glass said: “We felt that we were building a little bit of momentum. Obviously it got stopped a little bit against Motherwell, but it’s important that we get back on track and start getting points on the board.

“If you are not, other teams are, and you end up sliding down the league, which is not what we want to do.

“So it’s important that we get the opportunity to do that against United on Saturday and we take it.”

Aberdeen will have Connor McLennan back from injury, but Lewis Ferguson drops out through suspension.

That will leave Glass with similar numbers, with Declan Gallagher, Jack MacKenzie, Calvin Ramsay, Matty Kennedy and long-term absentees Andy Considine and Mikey Devlin still missing.

“There’s no hard-and-fast timescales,” Glass said. “With some of the injuries the boys have had, they are ones where they might be progressing then not, or ones that might be a little bit longer.

“It’s important that we focus on the group we have got. We have got a very similar group, minus Fergie and with the addition of Connor.”