JOE LEWIS may be 33, but he will very much be the junior party of the goalkeepers on display at Pittodrie today. At fully five years his senior though, Allan McGregor is inspiring the Aberdeen stopper to believe he has many years left at the top yet.

McGregor’s outstanding display for Rangers in last weekend’s win over Celtic was no surprise to Lewis, and he knows the Dons will have to go some to breach the visitor’s goal this afternoon.

“He's been fantastic and he was a huge part of their win last week against Celtic,” Lewis said. “It's good to see goalkeepers get the plaudits when you make contributions like that.

“He'll have been very pleased that his saves contributed to a good performance, the way he's playing right now and the amount of clean sheets they've had as a team.

“I'm sure Allan's playing with a lot of confidence. He's a fantastic goalkeeper with a lot of experience.

“At 38, he's still got the agility and that's something for all goalkeepers to look at.

“He's obviously a professional guy who looks after himself to still be playing at that level at that age.

“He's playing with a lot of confidence and so are Rangers at the top of the league. So we need to bring our best game on Sunday.

“Mid to late thirties can be a keeper's pomp. It varies for different goalkeepers.

“For me personally, I feel like I'm better with more experience.

“At 33, I need to maintain fitness and flexibility. I need to work hard in the gym and not stop for too long.”

And Lewis has no intention of stopping any time soon. In fact, the keeper is hoping that his long love affair with Aberdeen will continue for the duration of his playing days, however long that may be.

"I'd love to stay for the rest of my career,” he said. “That's how I feel at the moment.

"Lots of things change and it's always difficult to make long-term plans in football. But at the moment, I am very happy.

"I enjoy living here and I enjoy my football. Ideally, yes, it would be great to stay here.

"But you can't make too many predictions or plans in football for three or four years down the line, because the game doesn't allow for that.”

If Aberdeen can upset Rangers today, much will be made of the result opening the door slightly for Celtic at the top of the table, but Lewis wants three points to keep his own side’s hopes of catching Neil Lennon’s team.

"I'm not going to rule out finishing second – that would be silly from the position we're in,” he said.

“I don't want to target specific teams, we'll just take it game by game. Our focus right now is on Sunday. We're halfway through and the season is taking shape.

“But it has to be a target for us to finish as high up the league as possible. And second place is still certainly achievable. We're not going to write that off, that's for sure.

“A Champions League spot for second place is certainly a carrot. And third place gets you further into the Europa League than previous seasons.

“So that's there for the teams in and around there and second place is definitely there for us – if we can put a good run together and get results.

“But the teams around us like Celtic and Hibs will be thinking the exact same thing. They'll be fighting us for it.

“Look at the run Livingston are on right now, so you can't write off anyone.

“We aren't singling out teams to try and catch but second place is certainly up for grabs. We think it's achievable.

“And the Champions League aspect of it is big as well.”