Rangers game now ‘massive’ for Aberdeen, says Considine

● Defender feels Dons are closing gap on Old Firm after narrow cup final defeat

Aberdeen defender Andrew Considine says he felt the pain of defeat in the Betfred Cup final even more keenly because they were close to Celtic at Hampden.

The long-serving Dons player was convinced they were not far away from adding to their trophy haul but he will console himself if they can beat new Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Rangers tomorrow.

Aberdeen have the opportunity for a perfect tonic following their 1-0 loss in Sunday’s final when they travel to Ibrox tomorrow night.

They pressed hard for an equaliser during the second half against Celtic but just could not carve out a clearcut chance.

Considine said: “In years gone by it was ‘It’s the Old Firm, it’s almost like if they win it doesn’t matter, we’ll go on to the next game’. But I feel we are so close to them now. It hurts so much more because I feel we can go toe to toe with them. We have shown we can beat them, both of them.

“A result like this hurts but tomorrow night is massive. This month is huge for us, nine games, and fingers crossed we can come through with flying colours.”

When asked what it took to beat the Glasgow pair, he added: “It’s about doing the basics well but at the same time, you only get three or four chances, and you need to be clinical.

“That’s the big thing about facing the Old Firm, you’ve got to take your chances because they are fantastic teams. There’s not a lot of lapses of concentration and when you do get that you need to tuck it away.

“I felt we gave a very good account of ourselves. For long parts of the game we did the basics right, much like the Rangers game in the semifinal. We were tight as a unit, restricted them to not many chances. Other than the Celtic goal, I could probably count them on one hand. They didn’t have that many, until the gaffer threw me up front and they had a couple of breakaways.

“I felt we had a really good chance at set-plays and were always getting the first header. Scotty’s (Mckenna) one in the second half, he got in front of the first man and he flicked it on across goal, it just needed someone to be there. We had chances to get one back but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

But Considine added: “The boys are positive. Obviously disappointed but we’ve got Rangers at Ibrox so we need to pick ourselves up and if there’s a way to make ourselves feel better it’s to go there and get a win.”

0 Andrew Considine: ‘It hurts so much more because I feel we can go toe to toe with them’.