The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Ready for his favourite year Dons:
Devlin swaps strife for glory in finding a new lease of life at Pittodrie
What a difference a year makes for Aberdeen’s Mikey Devlin.
Twelve months ago the defender was recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered last May while playing the final game of the 2016-17 season with Hamilton.
Today he is back playing regularly, earned the manof-the-match award for his side in the Betfred League Cup semi-final win against Rangers and has received a Scotland call-up. It should come as no surprise then to discover that Devlin is enjoying himself immensely at Pittodrie.
He said: “It was a real honour to be called up to the Scotland squad and now we’ve progressed into a final. On a personal note, and collectively, it’s fantastic. I’m delighted.
“All the hard work is kind of geared up for an occasion like this. You’ve got to just go and play the game and be part of a team which is desperate to get to a final and a club that is desperate to get to a final.
“As a team, I thought that to a man we were brilliant. There were elements of the game we could have done better but I’m just delighted.”
Devlin agrees the victory against Rangers on Sunday was far from pretty but he hailed his side’s character in securing a final date against holders Celtic on December 2.
He said: “It probably wasn’t our best football performance on the ball. But we defended well as a team. We limited Rangers to a few shots from outside the box. I can’t think of Joe Lewis having too many world class saves. We know he’s capable of doing that if we need it but overall I thought we deserved it.
“We took our chance when it came and were always a threat on the counter. We could have used the ball a bit better. I don’t think there’s any argument about that, but I thought we hung in and defended brilliantly and showed great desire and character to get to the final.”
Devlin allowed himself the opportunity to bask in the glory of reaching a final but his immediate aim is to take his club’s cup form into the Premiership, starting with tomorrow’s visit of his former side Hamilton Accies to Pittodrie.
He said: “We were all thundering back down to earth after the result at Hearts last week to be fair. That’s the disappointing thing for us, our league form. We can’t quite get that bit of consistency that’s expected here so we need to keep working at that.
“When the fixtures came out Accies was the one I looked for and I’m looking forward to going up against some of my old team-mates.” these games and I think we have to create a bit more.
“You can talk about who was playing and who wasn’t but at the end of the day everyone is given a shirt and is trusted by the manager to perform.
“As a team, collectively, we were below par and Aberdeen beat us.
“Fair play to Aberdeen, they have come on the day. We’ve not played our best and they have scored a set piece.
“If roles had been reversed and we were playing against Rangers then that is the same game plan we would want – to stick 11 behind the ball and then to win it via a set piece like they did.”
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard took responsibility but Worrall believes the players owe their manager a response.
He said: “He puts the team out to perform and we didn’t do that for him. It was a massive opportunity to get to his first cup final.”
“As a team, I thought that to a man we were brilliant”
“Put 11 behind the ball and win it with a set piece”