McINNES AIMS TO SILENCE DONS DOUBTERS

DEREK McINNES is quite happy to hear people writing off Aberdeen’s chances of success this season as it provides his players another opportunity to prove them wrong. The Dons manager accepts there’s not many people outwith the Pittodrie club who believe they can see off the challenge of Rangers for the runners-up spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership this season. However, he takes solace from the fact they are the same pundits who predicted Kilmarnock would knock Aberdeen out of the Scottish Cup at Rugby Park in midweek. McInnes was delighted with the way his men proved they had the mental toughness needed to win the penalty shoot-out and progress to next month’s semi-final against Motherwell at Hampden Park. Now he’s expecting them to draw inspiration from that to produce the same sort of qualities in the remaining Premiership games, to silence the critics again and clinch the runners-up spot for a fourth successive season. ‘There was a lot of people finger pointing, putting the pressure on Aberdeen as a club,’ said McInnes, whose side entertain struggling Dundee today. ‘There was pressure on our players in the build-up, pressure during the game, pressure when they went a goal down and pressure in the shoot-out but every one of them stood up to it. ‘It was really pleasing for me that they had the confidence, the calmness, the determination and the ability to get through that tie. ‘Now the target is to go into the semi-final on the back of decent form as people had started to discount us in the league. ‘But we are proud of the fact that we have finished second in the last few years even though ideally we would like to finish first. ‘In the league we are in, it is really difficult to do that but we feel we are a team that is capable of finishing second again.’