Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes admits his side have a fight on their hands to achieve their pre-season goals following defeat to Hearts.

A 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle saw the Dons drop to fourth in the Ladbrokes Premiership, two points behind Kilmarnock in the battle for a European spot.

Aberdeen went ahead in the capital through Connor McLennan but the Jambos responded through Sean Clare's penalty and  Uche Ikpeazu's winner.

McInnes has confessed things are not going according to plan for his team in the league, but they are a game away from reaching a second cup final of the campaign.

He said: "For the first time this year, it's going to be a struggle to make the points (target) we set ourselves.

"At the start of the season, we set ourselves targets and it's to try to win two cups – or at least get into cup finals – and make sure we qualify for Europe as quickly as possible.

"And it's still in our hands to do that, but we're certainly going to have to get our hands dirty and work extremely hard to get those victories to guarantee that."

Ikpeazu gave Aberdeen defenders Scott McKenna and Considine a torrid time and McInnes felt the duo should prevented the forward's winner.

He added: "Their big fella up front caused us problems a bit more in the second half, none more so than for the second goal.

"The winning goal was a long straight ball and we were firmly in charge of that situation, and we allowed him to score.

"It was good centre forward play but poor defending. From my side of it, he shouldn't get the opportunity to get the shot away."

Ikpeazu was guilty of a horrible miss when presented with an open goal early in the second half and was later booked for simulation following a Joe Lewis challenge when manager Craig Levein claimed it was "the biggest stonewall penalty you'll ever see".

In an eventful afternoon, the 24-year-old left Tynecastle on a stretcher after sustaining a nasty looking head knock that Levein confessed could keep him out of this week's key fixtures against Rangers and Hibernian.

However, with their own Scottish Cup semi-final approaching and a top-six finish guaranteed, Levein has a lot to look forward to.

The Hearts boss said: "We're trying, we're trying to finish as high as we can and we've still got a cup semi-final.

"The top six thing is not where we set the bar but you have to do that to get further up the league, and we've managed to do that now.

"And we can look forward with real confidence in the coming weeks from now until the end of the season."