Aberdeen striker Christian Ramirez insists maintaining belief is key to his club turning their fortunes around.
The Dons suffered a third league defeat in a row as they lost 3-2 at St Mirren on Sunday.
The loss extended the team’s winless run to eight matches, with Stephen Glass’ side now in seventh place in the Scottish Premiership after taking no points in September.
Aberdeen are struggling, but Ramirez is confident his team can bounce back.
He said: “We are leaving everything out there, putting ourselves on the line and giving every ounce we have.
“It’s part of the game and why it makes winning so much sweeter. When you are winning you cherish it as you know you can go through lulls like this, but we’ll be better for it.
“We’ve got to stick to the plan and believe in each other.
“I don’t think confidence is the issue. I think when lulls in the game happen or things are going bad we have to focus more on the smaller things, the little details that can get you out of trouble. You never get to high or too low on confidence.
“We have to take it one weekend at a time, one tie at a time and start to string some wins together to get where we need to be.”
Ramirez joined the Dons from Houston Dynamo in the summer, departing the struggling MLS club for a new challenge in Scotland.
He was part of a squad which also went through a long run without a win and he believes the experiences gained at Houston, who failed to win a game between May 29 and September 11, will stand him in good stead for tackling the current run at Pittodrie.
He said: “I’ve been through spells like this before. In the last year-and-a-half, I was in the stands watching my team go through a drought like this and it felt like everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
“I was at Houston where they have just ended a run of 16 games without a win. You just have to believe in what you are doing and know that bounce will come your way.”
Jenks’ dismissal was turning point
Sunday’s 3-2 defeat at St Mirren was the latest setback in a poor run of results for Stephen Glass’ side with Teddy Jenks’ dismissal compounding another bad afternoon for the club.
He said: “We showed great resilience to bounce back from losing the early goal after the way things have been going and we took control of the game with the two goals.
“We didn’t feel any danger from them and felt like we were on track to comfortably close the game ou, but a split decision completely turned the tide.
“We knew the chances were going to start to open up and we showed at the start of the second half when we had an opportunity after Jonny (Hayes) played in Teddy.
“We knew that was how the second half would go, but the split decision changed the whole complexion of the game.
“It was one of those when things are going bad and you think you are getting out of a situation, something else happens.
“If one foul doesn’t go that way, we would have comfortably seen this game out.
“When another similar foul happens later and it goes 10-10, we would have controlled the game again and then maybe tied it or possibly win it.”
With Celtic visiting Pittodrie on Sunday, the American attacker knows there is no time for him or his team-mates to feel sorry for themselves.
The match will be the biggest domestic game the striker has faced since moving to Scotland and he is relishing the chance to face Ange Postecoglou’s side at Pittodrie.
He said: “We have to stick together and get ready for next week. There’s no better team to turn things around against than Celtic.
“I’m excited and hopefully we can bring some noise and start to turn things around.”
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