Dons boss aims to land first blow and floor Celtic’s triple Treble

ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes will instruct his players to draw first blood against Celtic this afternoon in the hope of applying maximum pressure on a team striving for a triple Treble.

McInnes believes his counterpart Neil Lennon and his players have proven they can withstand the relentless demands for success at Parkhead but knows the strain will show if his team can hold a lead deep into today’s semi-final.

‘Celtic are well aware of what they can achieve and they are used to dealing with pressure,’ said McInnes, who will be without his suspended captain Graeme Shinnie. ‘The only time it can be a factor in the match is if we strike the first blow.

‘If we can be winning deep into the second half, then it might be a factor.’

While McInnes is typically careful about saying anything that might affect the psychology of today’s game, he has an insight to the levels of expectation that have mounted at Celtic.

A member of the Rangers squad that fell short of achieving 10 league titles in a row under Walter Smith, he saw first hand how the tension built annually on a club chasing that historic tally.

Eight is a formality for Celtic but the scenario has been complicated for Lennon by the fact he has inherited a group of players who did not lose a domestic cup tie under predecessor Brendan Rodgers.

‘For Walter’s team, I do think the side aged a bit,’ reflects McInnes. ‘The motivation was still there but maybe that team just lost its way physically.

‘Players get used to success. It actually becomes a drug and that act of lifting a trophy and celebrating with the fans becomes something that they need rather than want.

‘So I think the motivation will be there for Celtic to do it. It will certainly be coming for the manager.’

Rodgers may have built a team that got into a habit of winning but his abdication for Leicester City in the middle of the season was not going to pass without effect.

Lennon favours a completely different style of management to his predecessor and has been deferring to his assistant John Kennedy in many areas of match preparation to avoid the risk of disrupting a winning formula.

Even before the change, there was sense that Aberdeen were managing to narrow the gap.

‘People from outside Aberdeen may say we are not under any pressure but there is still a demand from ourselves to get into another final and go that next step and actually win it,’ insisted McInnes.

‘I get the fact Celtic will be big favourites. They have spent more on players and accumulated a very good squad.

‘But I have no doubt we have the performance within us to beat them.

‘The last four games against them in Glasgow — a 1-0 victory over them at Parkhead, 1-0 defeat to Scott Sinclair’s goal, the cup final Ryan Christie 1-0, and then the 0-0 — there has been nothing in all four of those games. Including the one we won when we came up with a big moment.

‘In all of these games I felt that we could get something right up until the referee’s last whistle.

‘That gives me confidence that we have the performance in us to deliver the win at Hampden.’