McGinn delight at cup cameo impact

Dons star hopes to retain first-team place after helping Pittodrie side into last eight

Niall McGinn is hoping his impressive cameo on Sunday can lead to him forcing his way back into the starting line-up at Aberdeen.

The half-time substitute proved to be the star of the show as the Dons banked a comfortable win against their Dumfries rivals Queen of the South 4-1 on Sunday.

McGinn replaced Stevie May at the break, and was pleased to have made an impressive impact, scoring just one minute after his introduction before setting up a further two goals,

McGinn said: “Football’s a strange game. You never know. I haven’t started the last couple (of matches), which has been disappointing, but I made an impact on Sunday so that’s all I could have done – come on and make an impact.

“It’s always important to do your upmost when you’re on the pitch and thankfully I did that, and hopefully I’m in the side for next week.”

A strong second-half display earned Aberdeen their last-eight spot in the

The manager (Derek McInnes) pulled me in at half-time to bring a bit of spark to the game. NIALL MCGINN

Scottish Cup with McGinn netting the opener before providing impressive crosses to both Gary Mackay-Steven and Sam Cosgrove, allowing the Red’s to extend their lead.

The midfielder hopes that his performance will boost his chances of more starts in upcoming games, and is determined to get success with the Aberdeen side in the Scottish Cup for the first time.

He said: “I’m delighted first and foremost, looking from the outside in I was disappointed I wasn’t playing.

“The manager pulled me in at halftime to bring a bit of a spark to the game, and get on the ball and create chances and thankfully it all worked. It all went to plan.

“I’m delighted to have chipped couple of assists as well.

“I’m obviously more older now and more experienced. I’ve been here a long time and obviously played a lot of football, and the manager always has a lot of trust in me and he’s shown that to me since I’ve been here (from) day one.

“When I haven’t been playing I’ve kept myself to myself and kept working hard, and I always know I’m going to get chances.“

McGinn is eager to help his side reach a second cup final this season.

He said: “When you set out targets at the start of the season you always want to get to the cup final. We’ve done that by already getting there in the League Cup and we want to do that with the Scottish Cup.

“We’ve been in a cup final, a semi-final, you want to go that one step further.” in

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Niall McGinn celebrates his goal against Queen of the South – a minute after coming on as sub.