Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes will focus on fighting it out with Celtic at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership after their cup hopes again ended at the first hurdle.

The Dons fell at the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup for the second season running when they went down 1-0 against Hearts in a physical contest at Tynecastle.

Callum Paterson nodded the only goal in the third minute as Hearts dominated in the first half, giving Aberdeen a torrid time in the first 20 minutes especially.

The visitors were much improved in the second half but Andrew Considine squandered a glorious chance and Hearts held out amid some intense late pressure, leaving them only with the league to fight for following their early League Cup exit across Edinburgh against Hibernian.

"We're hugely disappointed," McInnes said. "We work for a club who want to compete for trophies and get to finals and we no longer have that opportunity.

"To play for a big club you have got to win big games and put yourselves in a place to win trophies, and we never did that. That disappoints me but we have to pick ourselves up and carry on. There's no alternative, we will just work with the boys we have got to improve things."

Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson suggested Aberdeen had missed their only realistic chance of silverware this season, but McInnes did not necessarily agree despite falling short of saying they are in a title race.

Aberdeen sit three points behind Celtic having played a game less and face Ross County and Dundee before hosting the champions on February 3.

When told of Neilson's comments, McInnes said: "We just want to go as strong as we can in the league. I've said often enough that it would probably need to take Celtic having a far poorer points tally but we intend to get as many points as possible and see where it takes us.

"We probably are the only team that can fight it out with Celtic for the league. But, if that's what he said, he's entitled to his opinion."

Aberdeen's title prospects suffered a severe blow though when Willo Flood pulled up with his latest hamstring injury, the same fate having befallen fellow central midfielder Ryan Jack 10 days earlier.

Left-back Graeme Shinnie and the attack-minded Kenny McLean finished the game in the middle two and McInnes looks like he will need reinforcements given 37-year-old unused substitute Barry Robson has played less than 45 minutes of league action all season and is not long back from an ankle problem.

"It's probably not the most prominent thing on my mind but it's certainly something to consider," he said. "Willo should be out for a considerable time. These things normally take four to six weeks. We already have Ryan Jack out for six weeks as well so it leaves us short in the middle of the park."

Neilson set his sights on cutting a six-point deficit on Aberdeen in the league before the fifth round.

"I'm pleased to get through first and foremost against one of the top teams in Scotland," he said. "It's still the team we are aiming for. We got through in the cup and we are aiming to get them in the league.

"The problem we have had recently is capitalising on the lead but once we scored, we had a 15-20 minute period when we probably should have scored again. We created chances, got in great areas and had Aberdeen on the rocks.

"A lot of teams would have gone under but Aberdeen recovered and in the second half they caused us a lot of problems."