DEREK McInnes has frequently pointed to Scottish football’s cup competitions as the only viable opportunity for his Aberdeen team to be among the honours this season.

Ever the realist he accepts the Ladbrokes Premiership trophy is a dream too far.

Aberdeen reached two finals last season managing to avoid Celtic en route on both occasions and are desperate to at least replicate that this term with the chance that, in a one-off situation, they can lay their hand on silverware for the first time since they won the League Cup against Inverness Caledonian Thistle three years ago.

It may be, then, that there is a little more tension in the air at Fir Park on Thursday night as McInnes leads his men against Motherwell in the quarter-final of that competition, particularly as their performances in successive league games – against Hearts and Kilmarnock, which both ended in draws – have been lacking.

Stevie May, a £300,000 arrival from Preston North End six weeks ago, is delivering the goals – three in five starts – and is keen that he and his team-mates can overcome the rather lethargic displays of those previous two games.

Their pummelling of Kilmarnock in the opening 30 minutes, during which May opened the scoring, fizzled-out as their opponents decided enough was enough forcing Aberdeen on the back foot.

May’s decision to return to Scotland, three years after his high-profile £800,000 transfer from St Johnstone to Sheffield Wednesday, was heavily weighted by the desire to win trophies which he saw as very possible at Pittodrie, though Thursday night will be the toughest of ties.

“We’ll be going into that game looking for a win, without a doubt,” said May. Hopefully that’s how we’re going to go. We’re going to set up this week and really look at how we’re going to play and come out of the traps firing on all cylinders.

“That was obviously one of a mixture of things that attracted me to the club,” said the 24-year-old.

“I’ve won trophies in Scotland before [the Scottish Cup with 
St Johnstone in 2014] and there’s no better feeling. That again would be nice.

“Motherwell away is a big game for the club and us players are looking forward to it.

“Hopefully, we can get to more and more cup finals as my career at this club goes on. It’s something we’ll look to do. But you can’t look further than the game ahead.

“It’s a huge game for us and we need to be right at it. We’ll get our training into us this week and be ready to go again. It’s one we’re looking forward to and it can’t come quick enough.”

Aberdeen’s return – second place in the league table with 
14 points from six games – is not to be sniffed at, however, with May insisting a tweaks here and there will bring improvement, though he admits to being puzzled by the lapses against Kilmarnock.

“After going 1-0 up, we should have put the game to bed,” he said. “I can’t put my finger exactly on what it was, but we seemed to go backwards after we scored the goal, when it should have been the opposite way. 

“That should give us more confidence to go and put the game away.”