McKENNA TARGETS SCOTTISH CUP SUCCESS FOR SMARTING ABERDEEN
McKenna hopes Betfred final pain can help Dons in Scottish Cup run
THE remarkable rise of Scott McKenna from out of favour at Ayr United to full Scotland international within the space of just 12 months has made for a compelling story.
For the Aberdeen defender, though, there was no fairytale ending to the chapter that involved his first-ever senior cup final.
The 22-year-old had a fine game against Celtic at Hampden on Sunday but Ryan Christie’s goal before the break meant Brendan Rodgers’ side lifted their seventh domestic trophy in a row.
The Betfred Cup loss was Aberdeen’s third consecutive cup final defeat to the Parkhead club and the away dressing room in Mount Florida was understandably gloomy afterwards.
But Dons boss Derek McInnes insisted he had seen plenty of rays of light during the 90 minutes, including the performances in their first finals of youngsters McKenna, Lewis Ferguson and substitutes Connor McLennan and Bruce Anderson.
The Aberdeen manager was left adamant that his players are destined to return to Hampden for future showpiece occasions.
Now McKenna hopes the squad can harness the hurt of Sunday’s disappointment and use it to fuel a path towards the Scottish Cup final in May.
‘The manager was very, very disappointed at the end of the cup final,’ said McKenna. ‘But after the game he told us that he knows that this squad of players will be back and that we will learn from this experience.
‘In terms of the way that we carried out the game plan, he was happy enough with that.
‘He just said we were lacking that bit of quality in the final third to pick someone out or to get a shot on target.
‘There’s still the Scottish Cup to come this season, so hopefully we can go on a good run in that.
‘It’s my first cup final, so I can’t say how it feels compared to the other two finals against Celtic. It’s disappointing for me to get this far and not win the cup.
‘There were a few other young boys, as well as me, playing in their first cup final. Hopefully we learn from this and, if we do get back here, the experience will stand us in good stead. But right now we need to dust ourselves down.’ McKenna fears that Aberdeen lost their concentration following the lengthy break when Dons winger Gary MackaySteven was knocked out cold in an accidental clash with Dedryck Boyata. The result was Ryan Christie’s run on the cusp of half-time was not tracked by Graeme Shinnie and the former Aberdeen loan star duly plunged the knife into his old club.
Mercifully, Mackay-Steven was released from hospital yesterday after being rushed there following his worrying head knock.
‘We maybe just lost a wee bit of concentration during that time,’ nodded McKenna. ‘But Celtic had the same break in play as us.
‘It is difficult to take because we were playing really well and then one long ball, with just a minute to go to half-time, killed us.
‘It’s tough to take because we went to Hampden knowing that, if we played as well as we can play, then we could win the game. But a lack of concentration cost us.
‘We could have done with a wee bit of luck, too. Celtic’s defender, Jozo Simunovic, hit his own bar and the ball did not drop in for us.
‘Then our keeper Joe Lewis had a great save from Ryan Christie but it bounced back to Ryan and he stuck it away. That was the difference on the day, I think.’
Like the rest of his team-mates, McKenna was left bemused when referee Andrew Dallas awarded Celtic a penalty when Aberdeen’s Dom Ball accidentally headed the ball off his own arm just outside the box. But he knows the Dons need to get over their loss and focus fully on facing Rangers at Ibrox tomorrow night.
‘Joe bailed us out by saving,’ said McKenna. ‘But from where I was standing, Dom headed the ball on to his arm — and it occurred outside the box.
‘But we have now got a massive game at Ibrox coming up and we need to try to focus our attention on that.
‘We need to try and bounce back from disappointing results as soon as possible. Hopefully we can do that at Ibrox.’