Cup ‘blip’ cannot spoil Dons start, says Christie

Aberdeen midfielder Ryan Christie insists he will not let the club’s Betfred Cup exit overshadow their start to the campaign.

Derek McInnes’ Dons suffered their first domestic defeat of the season a week ago when they lost 3-0 at Motherwell in the League Cup but returned to Fir Park on Sunday to beat the Steelmen 1-0 in the Premiership.

The cup exit was a huge disappointment at Pittodrie but onloan Celtic midfielder Christie knows Aberdeen, who are second in the Premiership two points behind leaders Celtic, have cause for optimism this term.

He said: “We feel very disappointed but we’ll look back on the game and look back on our start to the season.

“If you had offered us the start we’ve had we probably would’ve taken it before the cup tie. The result had to be a blip and we needed to make sure there was no repeat.”

Christie, who missed out on a Scottish Cup final appearance against his parent club last season due to the terms of his loan, insists the cup exit has only fuelled his desire to reach a national stadium final this season.

He said: “We wanted to go to Hampden as it is a great occasion to get to play at Hampden and we’ve missed out on that by not playing well enough.

“We still have the Scottish Cup and we’ll learn from what happened and we’ll take that into the next cup game.”

Dons manager Derek McInnes was pleased to see his side bounce back from the cup exit by winning at Fir Park and is keen to see his players pick up another three points on Saturday when St Johnstone visit Pittodrie.

He said: “We are disappointed to be out of the cup and we still don’t feel any better about it but we feel we restored a bit of pride in the team by seeing off the threat of Motherwell on Sunday.

“It was a case of doing the basics. Winning headers and second balls was what was required and I was delighted for the players and the supporters to have that winning feeling back and we need to keep it.

“People doubted us before Sunday but we’ve won eight and drawn one of our last nine games which is good form. We answered a few questions and this team is deserving of a bit more trust.

“We’ve had a strong start to the league and want to keep it going.”