JIMMY Thelin has stressed that Aberdeen will go all out to avoid another Hampden humiliation and book a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final spot when they play in the semi-final next month.
The Pittodrie club reached the last four of the national cup competition when they defeated Queen’s Park, who had knocked out Rangers at Ibrox in the previous round, 4-1 at home in the quarter-final this afternoon.
An Oday Dabbagh double and goals from Kevin Nisbet and Graeme Shinnie ensured a comfortable victory over Callum Davidson’s second tier team.
Aberdeen were thrashed 6-0 by Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden back in November – a result which brought their record-breaking 16 game unbeaten run to an end.
But Thelin said, “Of course, when you go to the semi-final, the target is the final. We have to focus on the league first, but it's nice to have it there in the future, to look forward to it.
“It's going to be a big game, let's see against whom. It's nice to have that as something in the future, but now all the focus has to be on the next league game because it's so tight in the table. But when we are there, of course, we have to try to win and reach the final.
“Everybody wants to be in Hampden and fight for a final spot and try to win something, so that's the first part. I'm happy that we can score the goals and be quite stable today and deserve a semi-final spot. Let's see what happens now.”
Thein was pleased to see Millwall loanee Nisbet score his fifth goal in six games against Queen’s Park – but he would not say if he expected the striker to be named in the Scotland squad for the Nations League play-off matches against Greece when it is announced on Tuesday.
“It's not my job, so I don't expect anything,” he said. “But I'm happy with the journey he's doing and his performance. He's more often arriving now to the box in the right position because he gets stronger and can cope.
“He always has a good game, but he also has to push for the right spot. Also, how he defends and his leadership to help other players to defend better has been good. There were some nice goals there, so it's good to see.”
Asked if there was a possibility that Aberdeen could keep Nisbet after his loan spell ends this summer, Thelin said, “I haven't thought about that right now. I'm happy he's here right now, and let's see what happens in the future. But who knows?”
The Swede was also encouraged to see Palestinian internationalist Dabbagh, who joined on loan from Charleroi in Switzerland last month, claim a brace on his first Pittodrie start.
“It's good to see when they get their goals,” he said. “It's also how they score, that they are in the right spots and keep the calmness in the situations. So he's also doing a journey.
“He has to do something more in how we defend and the pressing, but how he arrives to the box, we are really happy with. That's the journey all the players are in, to score goals, but also get results as a team. We have to win the games.
“So more and more we have connections in the team and more players who can contribute to the way we play and help us to win games. It's important for us to find the rhythm on the pitch. Training is one thing, but playing the game is another thing.”
Thelin, whose team return to action next Saturday with a William Hill Premiership match against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, is hopeful Norwegian midfielder Sivert Heltne Nilsen, who was ruled out of the quarter-final by an eye injury, will return to training next week.
Meanwhile, Davidson admitted that he feared for Queens Park’s chances of pulling off another upset when he learned that Celtic loanee Adam Montgomery had been ruled out of the match this morning.
“He just hurt his calf,” he said. “It was a blow to us because we had to make three different positional changes. These little things happen.
“We knew it was going to be tough, just as it was tough at Ibrox. Small things have to go your way to win games like this. But when I woke up this morning and found out I had lost my left-back I maybe thought it was going to be one of those days.
“But I am extremely proud of my players and grateful of the Queen’s Park fans who came up as well. I thought they turned up in their numbers for us. Hopefully they have enjoyed the wee run we have had.
“We still have the Challenge Cup final to look forward to. Hopefully I will have some defenders fit for that.”
