Considine in reminder to new Dons about what is expected

VETERAN defender Andrew Considine believes Aberdeen’s new signings have been given a crash course in the expectation levels at the club after a fraught sequence of results at home and abroad. Considine scored the Dons’ late equaliser in Sunday’s dramatic extra-time Betfred Cup victory over Dundee, bringing an end to a run of three defeats on the bounce. The 32-year-old insists he and his team-mates showed grit and character to win at Dens Park after their Europa League exit at the hands of Rijeka and a disappointing Premiership loss to St Mirren. ‘A lot of the boys who have come in maybe don’t realise the size of the club and the expectations at Aberdeen,’ said Considine. ‘To lose three games on the bounce, I know that’s counting two European games, it is still not great. There is an expectation to get results here. ‘There has been a few of us who have said that even losing one game means you feel the backlash. ‘You don’t want to have to feel as if you’ve got your tail between your legs, that you can’t walk around and look each other in the eye.’ Considine (above) was as frustrated as any fan with the home humbling by Rijeka, the ten-man hosts going down 2-0 on the night for a 4-0 aggregate loss. ‘There was a clear displeasure of how the game went last Thursday,’ he said, with a nod to the punters. ‘You could feel the frustration. Every time we lost the ball there was a lot of grunting and groaning. ‘But in any club in the land fans voice their opinions when their team is losing. And Aberdeen is a massive club. ‘I think the boys who’ve come in are getting the gist of that now. The expectation to win games every week is huge.’ Hearts at Tynecastle, the quarter-final reward for seeing off Dundee, is about as tough as any cup competition gets for Aberdeen. They haven’t won a knockout game in Gorgie since 1955. Considine admitted: ‘Hearts will be hard. It has been a tough place to go over the years for us. But it’s time for that to change.’