Reds roar into a Hampden shout

Aberdeen midfielder Ross McCrorie believes the Dons have the strength of character to prevail in Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic at Hampden.

The Dons highlighted their battling qualities at the weekend in a pulsating 3- 3 league draw against the Hoops at Pittodrie with Lewis Ferguson’s injury-time penalty earning Derek McInnes’ men a point against the champions.

Celtic are bidding for their 12th successive trophy, while the Dons are attempting to win the Scottish Cup for the first time since 1990 when Brian Irvine netted the winning penalty in a marathon shootout against the Celts.

McCrorie sees no reason why the Dons can’t serve up more Hampden heartache for the Hoops this weekend. He said: “We go into every game with confidence because we have a good squad and real depth.

“You only have to look at our squad and the players who were on the bench on Sunday.

“I think you have to go into every game believing you can win.

“We will rest up for the next couple of days, do our bit and look towards the weekend.

“We have a lot of character in the team. All the boys will push each other on.

“We never let the heads go down. We believe we can go on and win a game.

“I think that showed on Sunday with our never-say-die attitude.”

Having twice been in front through a first- half penalty from Ferguson and then Ryan Hedges’ close- range strike, McCrorie came off the Pittodrie pitch on Sunday frustrated his side had picked up only one point rather than all three.

He said: “In a way, we were disappointed not to win.

“Both sides were at it and had a lot of chances and goals.

“We will take the point but we are so disappointed not to have taken all three.

“We had our chances but we just now look forward towards the semi-final.

“Both teams will be desperate to get to the final.

“We will do the analysis of this game and go into the next game with a bit of confidence that we can go and do something.”

McCrorie was thrilled to be involved with the Scotland squad for the recent Nations League fixtures against Slovakia and Czech Republic.

The Scotland under-21 captain didn’t make it on to the pitch to win his first cap in dark blue but was pleased to see team-mate Andy Considine thrive in the international arena after making his debut at the age of 33.

He said: “It is massive and shows how well the team has done this season.

“We are getting individual plaudits and myself and Andy got the call- ups but our full concentration is on Aberdeen and doing the best we can here.

“” I was chuffed to be fair. I had the 21s and I took a phone call from the gaffer ( Derek McInnes) to tell me I was getting the callup.

“My family and I were proud but I want to take that next step and try to get some game time.”