The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Lewis ready to take Dons to cup final glory
Goalkeeper says he has a great hunger to win a medal with Aberdeen
He has established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in Scottish football but Joe Lewis wants something tangible to show from his time at Aberdeen.
The Englishman has been an integral member of Derek McInnes’ side since arriving at Pittodrie in the summer of 2016 but the only medals he possesses are of the runner-up variety.
That has added to his desire to collect his first winners’ medal tomorrow.
He said: “My medals are in a box at home. You don’t tend to put your second prize ones up, but I have got a space for a winners’ medal and hopefully that happens on Sunday.
“I have huge hunger to win a trophy for this club. A lot of great teams have played for Aberdeen – you walk down the corridor in the stadium and you see the pictures of cup wins.
“I want to be part of that and go down in history as a player who helped Aberdeen win trophies.”
If Aberdeen win the League Cup they will have done so in the hardest manner possible as an all-conquering and dominant Celtic side stand between the Dons and their second trophy of the McInnes era.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have won all six trophies since the Northern Irishman arrived in Scotland, at the same time as Lewis, and are heavy favourites to make it seven-in-a-row but Lewis insists his underdog team-mates are confident of creating an upset.
He points to the difficult path to the final for his side after overcoming Rangers in the semi-final and Hibernian at Easter Road in the quarter-final as two reasons why the Dons are heading to Glasgow in confident mood.
Lewis said: “We have had to do it the hard way to get to the final and we have to take confidence from that.
“They maybe haven’t been the prettiest of games at times, but it is about winning in cup games and we have done that. If we do that on Sunday then we will have won the cup.
“You want to play free-flowing football, but sometimes that can’t be the case and if we win on Sunday, I don’t think anyone would bother how it came about.
“We have done well at home this season in the games when we have been favourites. We were underdogs against Hibs and Rangers and got the result we wanted.
“Any team playing Celtic in our league you know they are favourites. We know though we are more than capable of winning this game and we are going into it in a positive mood.
“The starting line-up will step over that white line confident they can do the job.”
Lewis has performed admirably already in the competition, helping his side to a penalty shoot-out win in the quarter-final and he has been practising in case spot kicks are required once more.
He said: “We practised penalties this week but you have to be decisive as a goalkeeper. Much like taking the penalty, you have to pick the way you are going and stick to it. You just hope your gut instinct is right.”
McInnes meanwhile hopes his players will vindicate the prediction of Sir Alex Ferguson when they face Celtic.
Sir Alex, the most famous predecessor of McInnes, delivered some words of comfort to the Aberdeen boss two years ago after the Dons lost 3-0 to Celtic at the same stage.
The former Scotland and Manchester United boss told McInnes his players would be better-placed to compete in finals the more they play at Hampden.
The Dons reached their fourth final under McInnes by beating Rangers at the national stadium last month.
McInnes said: “I always remember Sir Alex saying to me after we lost the 3-0 game against Celtic, that only by revisiting surroundings that players start to feel at home and be more capable of delivering a performance.
“He said he had had umpteen international players, players who had played 400-500 top-flight games, who didn’t turn up in a final. He said it can happen but by revisiting them you get more familiar with your surroundings.
“It has helped us being here so often in the last wee while. It doesn’t give you any guarantees on the day because you have to do all the things we spoke about, but I certainly think it doesn’t do any harm.
“Even my players involved in the national team recently and training here for a few days and being involved in a couple of positive results – (Scott) McKenna, (Graeme) Shinnie, (Michael) Devlin for a spell, Gary Mackay-Steven – all that helps because we know Celtic have that.
“It’s good to see that we feel as a club that we kind of belong here and feel at home here.”
McInnes won his first final in 2014 as Aberdeen beat Inverness in the League Cup at Celtic Park, and the former St Johnstone and Bristol City boss is proud that his players continue to be consistently there or thereabouts in the latter stages of tournaments.
“Prior to coming in we had only won one trophy in 20-odd years, so that suggests that, while it’s important, it’s not easy,” he said.
“At least now we are giving ourselves a chance. No other club outwith Celtic have been in more semi-finals and finals than us, or competed in Europe as much as us, in recent seasons. I’m proud of that.”