Considine left gutted by fine margins of final

ABERDEEN defender Andrew Considine felt the pain of Hampden defeat even more keenly because they were close to Celtic.

The long-serving Dons player was convinced they were not far away from adding to their trophy haul but he will console himself if they can beat new Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Rangers tomorrow.

Aberdeen have the opportunity for a perfect tonic following their 1-0 loss in Sunday’s Betfred Cup final when they travel to Ibrox.

Considine said: “In years gone by it was ‘It’s the Old Firm, it’s almost like if they win it doesn’t matter, we’ll go on to the next game’.

“But I feel we are so close to them now. It hurts so much more because I feel we can go toe to toe with them. We have shown we can beat them, both of them.

“A result like this hurts but Wednesday night is massive. This month is huge for us, nine games, and fingers crossed we can come through with flying colours.”

When asked what it took to beat the Glasgow pair, he added: “It’s about doing the basics well but at the same time, you only get three or four chances, and you need to be clinical.

“That’s the big thing about facing the Old Firm, you’ve got to take your chances because they are fantastic teams. There’s not a lot of lapses of concentration and when you do get that you need to tuck it away.

“I felt we gave a very good account of ourselves. For long parts we did the basics right, much like the semi-final. We were tight as a unit, restricted them to not many chances. Other than the goal, I could probably count them on one hand.”