ABERDEEN avoided the sort of ignominious Scottish Gas Scottish Cup exit which their bitter rivals Rangers had suffered at the hands of second tier Queen’s Park in the previous round at Pittodrie this afternoon.
Callum Davidson’s men made history with a shock 1-0 triumph at Ibrox last month and they were determined to claim another top flight scalp today and progress to the last four of the competition which they won 10 times in their glorious heyday for the first time since 1928.
They could, though, not reproduce their giant-killing heroics against Jimmy Thelin’s team in the quarter-final. Goals from Kevin Nisbet, Oday Dabbagh and Graeme Shinnie had killed off their dream by half-time.
Dabbagh added another in the second-half to ensure Aberdeen booked their second semi-final appearance of the season at Hampden before Zac Rudden pulled one back for the visitors.
The Pittodrie club are likely to face a far stiffer challenge in Mount Florida next month than they did here. But this was another encouraging display and result, albeit against Championship opponents, for Thelin.
Here are five talking points from the one-sided encounter.
Dominant Dons
Thelin made no fewer than five changes to the side which came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Dundee United at home six days ago and remain above of their Tannadice rivals in the William Hill Premiership table.
Sivert Heltne Nilsen, Kristers Tobers, Jack MacKenzie, Jeppe Okkels and Pape Habib Gueye dropped out and Shinnie, Alfie Dorrington, Leighton Clarkson, Shayden Morris and Dabbagh came in.
Such radical surgery before such a big fixture suggested that the Swede, who brought in no fewer than six new players during the January transfer window, is confident in the strength in depth which he now has at his disposal.
The players he brought in more than justified their inclusion.
Toothless Spiders
Thelin’s opposite number Davidson was unable to play centre-backs Leon King and Ben Jackson as the on-loan duo had played for Rangers and Livingston respectively in earlier rounds of the competition. His midfielder Ryan Duncan, meanwhile, was unable to feature against his parent club.
But he slotted Zach Mauchin and Nikola Ujdur in to his defence, fielded Seb Drozd up front alongside Rudden, set up in an old-fashioned 4-4-2 formation and sent his charges out with strict instructions to attack at every available opportunity.
They had clearly been paying attention to his pre-match team talk. Jack Turner gave the hosts an early scare when he had a ferocious shot that was heading for his intended target blocked. The visitors continued to probe for an opening thereafter.
Queen’s Park, though, lacked the quality which their opponents had in the final third and when Nisbet and then Dabbagh struck in the space of three minutes it left them facing an uphill task.
Calum Ferrie and his team mates kept fighting even when they fell four behind and Rudden gave their travelling supporters something to cheer when he snatched a consolation goal.
Birthday boy
It has taken former Partick Thistle, Dunfermline, Hibernian and Scotland striker Nisbet some time to win around the Aberdeen support and fill the considerable void which Bojan Miovski left when he departed for Girona in August.
The Millwall loanee only managed to find the target four times in the first half of the 2024/25 campaign. If he had returned to South East London in January few in the North East would have mourned his departure.
But the 11-times capped player has, it is fair to say, silenced his doubters of late. His double last weekend salvaged a precious point and his opener this afternoon was sublime. He met an Ante Palaversa corner first time and beat Ferrie with deft flick with the outside of his right foot.
It was quite a way to celebrate his 28th birthday. He has now been on target five times in six matches and on 10 occasions in total this term. If he keeps this sort of form up he will earn himself a recall to the national squad.
600 not out
Aberdeen captain Shinnie reached a notable career landmark in this outing – it was his 600th appearance as a professional.
He played with the same sort of intelligence and endeavour that he has since he made his debut for Inverness Caledonian Thistle as a fresh-faced 17-year-old way back in 2009 and capped an assured performance with a goal.
Ferrie, who had saved an injury-time penalty at Ibrox, should really have done better after the midfielder got on the end of a Palaversa corner and found the bottom right corner. It was, though, entirely fitting that the skipper got on the scoresheet.
He was serenaded with a lusty rendition of “he’s one of our own” by the Aberdeen fans in The Red Shed after he made it 3-0 in the fourth minute of added-on time at the end of the first half.
Yabba Dabbagh do
Nisbet is not the only Aberdeen forward who is starting to find the net. Dabbagh, who joined on loan from Charleroi at the start of last month, is showing why Thelin was so keen to bring him on board.
The Palestinian internationalist opened his account with a last-minute winner against Kilmarnock in the Premiership in his second appearance. He pitched in with a double this afternoon as he made his first Pittodrie start.
Both of his strikes were simple tap-ins. Still, he was in the right place at the right time when Morris supplied him. He received a warm ovation when he was replaced by Peter Ambrose.
