Derek McInnes hopes the disappointment of dropping points from a winning position against Celtic last week can help his side get the job done this time.
The Dons held a lead twice in Sunday afternoon's Premiership fixture before the champions eventually turned the game on its head late on with the introduction of scorers Leigh Griffiths and Ryan Christie. That Aberdeen came back themselves to grind out a 3-3 draw in the dying minutes with a late Lewis Ferguson penalty was enough to ensure McInnes was, at least, satisfied with the result.
McInnes now wants his players to remember what it felt like to lose their lead and fail to beat Celtic at Pittodrie. He wants them to use the frustration as motivation headed into this weekend's Scottish Cup semi-final in Glasgow.
He is confident they will, because there is still even more to come from his players. "I think the players will remember Sunday’s game, they should remember it," McInnes said. "We didn’t want the game to finish and that is not always the case when you play the Old Firm.
"If you are drawing, a lot of the time a point can be seen as a good result. And I never felt that anybody in my team, my staff, our club felt that it was a great result for us. I think it was important how we finished the game. From a winning possession if you lose it, it always impacts more.
"But I do think from looking like the game was being played out, we found a way to get back in and we actually created two or three good chances after we lost the third goal. The response of the team was good, it was no more than we deserved. I thought we were very good in the game, competitive throughout, we were smart with our work.
"It was a good point but it could have been more, and I still think there is more to come from the team and hopefully that can play out on Sunday."
McInnes is likely to be without Dylan McGeouch for Sunday's Hampden Park showpiece as the former Celtic midfielder is expected to be out for a number of weeks with an injury. Celtic, meanwhile, could be missing Kristoffer Ajer who hobbled off in Thursday's Europa League draw with Lille in France.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel