JOE Lewis is hopeful that a meeting with Rangers at Ibrox can help injury-ravaged Aberdeen to rediscover their missing spark and move away from the cinch Premiership relegation zone.

The Pittodrie club slipped to 10th place in the top flight table when they lost 2-0 to Hearts at Tynecastle on Wednesday night and are now just nine points above second-bottom St Johnstone with nine games remaining.

Jim Goodwin’s team face a tough task ending a nine game winless run in the league that stretches back to Boxing Day when they take on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side in Govan tomorrow afternoon.

Goodwin was missing Andy Considine, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Adam Montgomery, Calvin Ramsay and Marley Watkins in midweek and lost both Matty Kennedy and Jonny Hayes to injuries during his first loss as manager.

However, Aberdeen have performed well against the Scottish champions this term – they drew 2-2 with them away in October and 1-1 with them at home last month – and goalkeeper Lewis is optimistic a meeting with their fierce rivals can be the catalyst for an upturn in form.

"It needs to be a spark,” he said. “We have had decent performances against Rangers this season and we need to replicate those performances and show a lot more than we did against Hearts.
"It's hard to gauge why the spark isn’t there. We certainly need to show more energy and willingness to run and tackle regardless of whether anyone is feeling confident or not. That's non-negotiable really and it's something that we need to inject in our game and show more fight.
"It was difficult against Hearts because they are a good side. But we need to move forward and find that spark from somewhere."
Lewis added: "To be a successful team it is based on clean sheets. But we need to carry a threat too. We need to be a team that is hard working and who win their first and second balls and the basics.
"We need to find that spark, maybe take the lead in a game to give ourselves something to work on. We've not had that of late and we need to find it."
Aberdeen would have moved into the top six if they had won in Gorgie in midweek and Lewis is, despite the Pittodrie club slipping to 10th with the Hearts defeat, refusing to rule out a climb up the table.

"We are absolutely not where Aberdeen should be,” he said. “The games will run out soon, but the league is condensed and there is an opportunity for someone to go out and go on a run. Going higher up in the table is there for a team who wants to grab it.

“We need to show the willingness to go on a run, but right now we are not really looking like a team who are going to do that.
"We have to show resilience and fight. The manager is not asking for miracles from anyone. He's asking for hard work and athleticism and to put ourselves about. There wasn't enough of that."

Club captain Lewis thinks it is the duty of every Aberdeen player, not just experienced individuals like himself, Scott Brown and Hayes, to try and halt the slump in form. 

"All players should take responsibility,” he said. “It doesn't matter what age you are. Look at Lewis Ferguson, he'd been our stand-out player for us this season in my opinion and he's only a young boy. Look at Connor Barron. He has been fantastic, he's been a leader on the pitch since he's come in.

"I don't think it necessarily should come from just the senior boys but certainly we have to help the young boys. It needs to come from everyone. There's a limit to what one individual can do. It needs to be collective."