Mark McGhee has told Lee Miller Aberdeen will work harder to provide him with more service – but the striker has to do better with the chances he gets.

“We need to be aware of where Lee is on the pitch,” McGhee told the Daily Express.

“But equally he has had chances and he has to take more of them.”

Miller has enjoyed mixed fortunes at Aberdeen since joining the side in 2006, scoring 29 goals in 120 games. However, the striker, who has two Scotland caps, has not found the net so far this season.

“If we were standing here and Lee hadn’t had any chances then I would be apologising to him and saying we must do more.” McGhee said.

“I think we have to do more for him and we have been speaking about that in training.

“It is a bit of both. Lee has to sharpen up but we also have to provide more service for him as well.

Having kept a clean sheet in three consecutive league matches, Aberdeen have become a tough team to beat under their new manager but McGhee conceded that the side had to provide more ammunition for the forwards.

“It is nothing to do with the confidence or ability of our strikers.

“It is about the ability of the team to pass the ball and create clear-cut chances. We don’t do that enough. That comes down to the balance of the team.

“That is because we are nowhere as near as good as we are going to be. It doesn’t happen all at once.

The Dons boss insisted his team would have enjoyed a memorable start to the season if they had been able to employ a cutting edge in front of goal.

“If we had scored in the games against Rangers, Falkirk and Motherwell we would be top of the league,” he lamented.

“We would be sitting with six more points, so we don’t need to find a lot of goals.”