McInnes drinks in win as sobering loss fuels Dons
ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes felt his side had atoned for their disappointing League Cup final defeat to Celtic this season by reaching the Scottish Cup final. The Pittodrie side edged a compelling semi-final tie against Hibernian and will now face either Celtic or Rangers in the final on May 27 as they look to get their hands on the trophy for the first time since 1990.
“I felt after the last final we had some making up to do,” McInnes said. “We’ve done it through our league form since the turn of the year, but to reach a second cup final in a season for an Aberdeen team who could hardly get to one final for many years, I’m so pleased. I hope the players get their reward for everything they gave.
“Semis are all about getting through and hopefully we can learn from the experiences we’ve had. Certainly the last time we were here when it was the most sobering. There’s nothing worse when you know you haven’t turned up – we spoke in the dressing room after that game that the only way to feel better about this result is immediately getting back to a final.
“And it’s only by revisiting finals, familiarising yourself with them, that you get used to them. It gives you a better chance of winning them and I’m hoping that’ll help us on May 27.”
Aberdeen enjoyed a good dose of fortune with the winning goal five minutes from time. Jonny Hayes’ shot would likely have gone wide had it not struck Darren McGregor’s knee and spun in, as McInnes acknowledged.
“We got a break with the goal,” he said. “If you’re a Hibs supporter then it’s such a cruel way to lose a semi-final but we’ll take it.
“Like every single Aberdeen supporter I was put through the wringer. We might have lost that
type of game a couple of years ago. We’ve been involved in five semi-finals and won three. The two we lost – against St Johnstone at Ibrox and Dundee United here – I thought we were in charge of the game, similarly to today. We didn’t get what we deserved on those days. But the experience we had helped us deal with getting the job done.”
Hibs’ comeback from 2-0 down to get level at 2-2 did not earn their players any sympathy from Neil Lennon. “It was pathetic,” he said. “Utterly pathetic. It was a semi-final, the pitch was good. I wanted the players to go out and express themselves. You get set-backs, los- ing the early goal, but it didn’t worry me because I have character in there. But they just didn’t show it.
“The first two goals were schoolboy stuff. I thought I was getting there but some old, bad habits started creeping back in there. Players hiding, mis-controlling the ball, not being physical enough. We looked poor at the back at times, too poor for my liking. We didn’t look comfortable enough. We could have won the game and if we hadn’t gifted two goals we probably would have.
“The players get no accolades from me. Not today. They should have won, the opportunity was there, and they will have loads of regrets about the game. They can go home and watch it again.
“You can talk about tactics and formations, it’s all nonsense. If you gift goals like that, it’s got nothing to do with tactics. We didn’t turn up for 30 minutes then for the next 60 we were the better team by a long way, we scored two wonderful goals. But you can’t give any team a two-goal start in a semi-final.”
Lennon cursed the loss of Dylan McGeouch to injury not long after the forward’s equaliser.
“We get back to 2-2 but it’s not our day because we lose Dylan and that’s been the story of his career. It was a blow at the time because we were on top and comfortable.”