Celtic v Aberdeen

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CELTIC v ABERDEEN / WILLIAM HILL SCOTTISH CUP SEMI-FINAL THE ROAD TO HAMPDEN Aberdeen have the difficult task of trying to end Celtic’s quest to win the William Hill Scottish Cup for the fourth successive time in today’s semi-final at Hampden Park. Derek McInnes’ side have fared well away from Pittodrie in the tournament so far and have enjoyed a handy trait of scoring late goals. Here is a reminder of their route to the last four. ABERDEEN 1-0 DUMBARTON The Dandy Dons began the competition on 18 January and left it late to get the win against Jim Duffy’s side, despite dominating the match. Sam Cosgrove’s 86thminute penalty, which he had won when he tempted Morgyn Neill into a rash challenge, eventually saw them through. Aberdeen had 27 shots during the 90 minutes and, perhaps unsurprisingly, boss McInnes called for a better goal return. He said: “I’m bemoaning and cursing the fact we passed up so many chances. At set-plays, every one of my bigger lads had opportunities - Cosgrove, (Andrew) Considine, (Scott) McKenna, (Ash) Taylor. They’ve got to be better than that. It’s a part of the game that’s very important and these boys have to take the responsibility to score more goals when the delivery is as good as it was from Niall McGinn today. “If you take your chances then Dumbarton have to come out of their shape to get something from the game, but the longer it’s 0-0 the more they think they’re in the game. “Nobody could deny that we deserved to win the game. It felt like the type of performance that maybe merited more goals, but you have to score them, and we’re still searching for penetration and quality. It’s something we need to work on going forward.” ABERDEEN 0-0 KILMARNOCK McInnes’ side were still struggling in front of goal when they hosted Kilmarnock on 8 February in the fifth round. Aberdeen had failed to find their shooting boots after the win over the Sons and the supporters let them know about it. Indeed, Aberdeen had scored just once since the winter break. The Granite City boss expressed his anger and frustration after his side’s goalless run extended to a fifth straight game in all competitions. He said: “The wind made conditions difficult for both sides, at times farcical in the second-half, but I’m angry and embarrassed at not scoring for the fifth game in a row. Clearly that’s where we need to get better. “If you don’t score in five games you deserve stick, and my players need to take more responsibility to answer the critics.” 30 HAMPDEN PARK / SUNDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2020
CELTIC v ABERDEEN / WILLIAM HILL SCOTTISH CUP SEMI-FINAL KILMARNOCK 3-4 ABERDEEN There were goals galore, however, in the Rugby Park replay on 19 February. Mohamed El Makrini’s spectacular first-half overhead kick for Killie was cancelled out by Considine with two minutes remaining, before the extra-time goal rush. Matty Kennedy put Aberdeen ahead in the 92nd minute but Eamonn Brophy levelled for the hosts with a stunning free-kick. With just three minutes remaining Nicke Kabamba put Killie 3-2 up but that was immediately cancelled out by a Cosgrove penalty. And in stoppage time of extra-time, the unfortunate Connor Johnson scored an own goal from a Considine cross to seal the win for Aberdeen. McInnes hailed the character of his players afterwards. He said: “Obviously I’ve got pride in the players’ tenacity to keep going. They never gave it up. “There are different ways to win a match. You can do it tactically, which we didn’t do tonight, you can do it through big moments individually, or you can just do it with sheer guts and tenacity and a refusal other than to make the game go our way. It’s almost as though we’ve lit a fire under our season now.” ST MIRREN 0-2 ABERDEEN Aberdeen set up their ninth semi-final in seven seasons under McInnes with a Saturday-night win in Paisley on 29 February. Lewis Ferguson opened the scoring with a drive with the outside of his boot in the seventh minute, before substitute Cosgrove’s stoppage-time penalty capped the win and left McInnes pleased. He said: “Fergie’s goal was brilliant, real quality. I have been chipping away at him, he needs to do more of that. “We started the game excellently. St Mirren were the better side towards half-time. They had a lot of possession but didn’t hurt us. “We defended well second-half but I was screaming to get ourselves up the pitch. Maybe the players felt subconsciously that 1-0 was enough but I wanted to get more of a focal point, which is why I brought big Sam on. With Sam applying pressure to centre-backs, we get our rewards with a penalty.’’ HAMPDEN PARK / SUNDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2020 31
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