Russell Anderson described winning last season’s League Cup as the highlight of his playing career and the Aberdeen captain is determined to help the Dons retain the trophy.
Aberdeen drew a favourable tie in yesterday’s third-round pairings, beginning their cup defence at home to Livingston at Pittodrie next month.
The Dons captain admitted the draw could have been much worse but insists they will take nothing for granted as they bid to emulate last season’s success when a penalty shoot-out victory against Caley Thistle in the final ended teh Reds’ 19-year wait for silverware.
Anderson said: “We want to retain the trophy. You need to play well in the games and get a bit of luck as you never know what will happen.
“We won’t be reminiscing about what happened last season but when the game comes around then obviously we will want to have another good cup run.
“I don’t think the draw could have been any better. We’ve got a home tie which you always hope you will get and it also helps being seeded.
“It goes to show the benefits of doing well in the competition the season before.
“We are delighted with the home game but we are not going to be complacent because we only have to remember back to last season’s run when Alloa took us to penalties.
“We fortunately got through that night and we know we can’t take anything for granted in this tie.”
The Dons will be looking to go into the international break on a positive note against Partick Thistle this weekend after a stuttering start to the campaign, with two defeats from their opening three matches.
Anderson, who limped off with a knee injury in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at St Johnstone, is hopeful he will be available to face Partick and knows it is imperative the Dons return to winning ways.
He added: “The season has been disappointing in the fact we have only won one game out of the three. But we also know things can turn around very quickly.
“We are at home and in the European games we have put in some good performances.
“Against Dundee United we didn’t reach the heights we would have liked to and we shot ourselves in the foot that day.
“We are looking forward to Saturday to try to put some more points on the board.”