Derek McInnes admits he has no hope of splitting the Old Firm for second place this season on their current sparkling form.
But he reckons his Dons are looking back to their best after recording their third victory in a row for the first time this season.
The comeback win against Ross County moves Aberdeen into third place above Motherwell.
But McInnes insists his only focus for now – despite trimming the gap on the top two to four points – is his own team.
The Dons boss said: “We’ve done our bit after the defeat to Celtic and it’s pleasing to get nine points from three games.
“Rangers and Celtic are in such a good place just now. You see them beating Lazio and Porto and it shows you the level they are at.
“We just have to concentrate on ourselves and make sure our points tally is up there comparable with previous seasons.
“We’ll have a better idea of where we are come the turn of the year. Our trademark is going on unbeaten runs and that’s what we are trying to do again.”
County opened through a Josh Mullin penalty in five minutes after Lewis Ferguson was judged to have used his arm to block a Michael Gardyne dig at goal.
But the Dons retaliated with a sublime Niall McGinn free-kick just five minutes later before another dead-ball strike by Ryan Hedges and an Andy Considine screamer in the second half.
McInnes said: “I felt a bit bewildered at the start as there was no real claim from Ross County for a penalty.
“Lewis has turned his back to protect his face and the ball hasn’t travelled any distance to make it a deliberate hand ball. I’m not sure it was in the box either.
“But if you are going to fall behind the best time to do it is in the first five minutes.
“I would have taken any win coming up here as we’ve had to bounce back from a few blows.”
County needed to break a run of six matches without a victory and made a dream start.
Lewis Spence strode forward and fed Gardyne but his pot-shot hit the arm of Ferguson.
What was unclear was whether Ferguson was inside the penalty area and whether his arm was in a natural position.
Ref Alan Newlands thought so and Mullin sent keeper Joe Lewis the wrong way from the spot for his first Premiership goal.
But the Dons reacted with a Greg Leigh header that was saved before McGinn struck a superb dead ball equaliser.
The ball appeared to strike Liam Fontaine’s arm outside the left edge of the 18-yard line.
With several players hovering over the ball, Northern Irishman McGinn stepped forward and curled a lovely free-kick inside keeper Ross Laidlaw’s left post.
From there, defences remained on top until the break but inside seven second-half minutes, the Dons were ahead.
A foul on Sam Cosgrove teed up Hedges who curled a 20-yard free-kick invitingly into the six-yard box. No one could connect and the ball spun beyond the rooted Laidlaw and bounced into the far corner of the net.
County battled back and Sean Kelly’s 15-yard strike was saved by Lewis.
Moments later, Ewan Henderson’s swirling free-kick found Brian Graham sliding in to score with an outstretched leg, only for the offside flag to terminate home celebrations.
But it was the Dons who carved out a two-goal lead after 70 minutes.
There were howls for a Dons penalty as Cosgrove tumbled just inside the area, with referee Newlands unimpressed. But County’s defence could only scramble the ball to the edge of the box where Considine let rip with a ferocious left-foot strike into the top corner.
Ferguson then unleashed with similar force but saw his strike skim the top of the bar.
County co-boss Steven Ferguson was frustrated that “cheap” goals cost his side.
The Staggies gaffer insisted there was little between the teams in open play but admitted mistakes again undid their plan.
Ferguson said: “It sounds silly when you lose a game 3-1 at home but we felt we had a decent gameplan.
“We feel we’re contributing to the goals we’re losing – and that’s the frustrating thing.
“We didn’t feel we were going to lose goals in open play. We felt we were frustrating Aberdeen.”
