275 years as your voice
Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie has warned there can be no cup hangover as his side bid to put their League Cup final loss behind them.
The last Don Cup hopes were dashed with a 1-0 defeat to Rangers at Hampden on Sunday, as James Tavernier’s late goal left Barry Robson’s side disheartened at the National Stadium.
The pain of defeat was etched on the faces of the Aberdeen players at full-time and Shinnie has urged his team-mates to use their final loss as motivation for the remainder of the campaign.
The Dons captain said: “I told the guys after the game that we had to use them as fuel for the rest of the season.
“We can’t afford any sort of hangover, we need to turn our league season around.
“We have to take advantage of Sunday’s game to move forward.
“For a lot of the guys, it’s their first cup final in Scotland, so to lose it is a new experience for them.
“Sunday hurts, but we have to digest it, fix it and move on. “
The Aberdeen captain is relieved to have a league game on Wednesday to ease Hampden’s pain.
The club in the background, Livingston, to Pittodrie, and Shinnie knows it’s important for his team to bounce back and work out issues between now and the winter break as they look to move up the table from 10th.
He said: “There is a long way to go, we have a lot of league games and there’s also the Scottish Cup to go for.
“The league is our target now, so it’s smart to play again on Wednesday.
“In football, it’s smart to make an attack temporarily after a defeat because it’s a chance to start again.
“We want to start racing now, get back to form in the league and start qualifying.
“We had a result at the Hearts in the league, so we want to build on that, pick up some momentum and move up in the league. “
The race to the cup final and the demands of the European festival have taken their toll on Robson’s team this season.
The Aberdeen captain believes the schedule has been difficult for him and his teammates, but Shinnie is hungry for more European action next season.
To do so, however, he knows it’s imperative for Donations to combine a winning streak.
The midfielder said: “We had a wonderful run last season and finished third, so of course we can do it again. “
“We’ve had some bad games this season, we’re not going to lie, but we’ve also had some smart performances.
“We know what we have and the quality we have.
“But we’ve talked enough. We have to start doing it on the pitch and get back to normal.
“This season has been gruelling, to be honest.
“It’s been tough, one of the toughest I’ve ever had in football.
“We’ve travelled a lot and played a lot of important games, but that’s how it is when you’re about to play in the European organising stages and cup finals.
“It comes thick and fast and you have to deal with it.
“It’s been more complicated than betting in the south because in European games you put a lot into it.
“But that’s what you have to do as a club, so we have to get used to it and be informed about how to deal with it.
“Now we have a run of league games that we want to win to get to where we are in the table. “
He’s in the league now, but there’s a genuine sense of what could have happened to Pittodrie after he squandered the cup final.
Dons goalkeeper Kelle Roos helped snuff out the threat of the Ibrox side before Tavernier’s late winner.
Meanwhile, the Dons had chances, but failed to take advantage of them in a significant effort against Gers goalkeeper Jack Butland.
Shinnie said, “It’s disgusting. It’s not a wonderful game; It’s actually the way it’s played, so I guess it was the same when I saw it. “
“Both teams cancelled each other out and in the game it looked like a goal would win anyway.
“Unfortunately for us, the Rangers were given it and we weren’t.
“Was the game panning out the way we hoped? Not really – we needed to be better on the ball.
“In the first half we had some counter-attacks and if we had been better at our three-on-two passes or whatever, we might have hurt them.
“But we misplaced a few passes and didn’t do enough in the game to win it.
“We let them get away with it in a lot of transitions.
“There were times when it would have taken a single pass to get into those areas, but we didn’t and we paid the price.
“It was a difficult game, a typical cup final in which nobody came out to catch him.
“One of the goals was to win the way things were.
“We are devastated because the target opposed us when it came. “
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