Thousands of Aberdeen fans will be heading to Hampden on Saturday for the Viaplay Cup semi-final with Hibs in a much more positive mood.
It was all feeling quite negative around the Dons after Sunday’s dismal 2-0 Premiership defeat at Kilmarnock, but Wednesday’s impressive 4-2 win away at Motherwell will have bolstered the belief of both the squad and Red Army alike.
Now all attention turns to a massive game for Reds boss Barry Robson – his chance to reach a first national final as a manager.
It is a daunting week with PAOK away in the Europa Conference League on Thursday – although the Dons won’t qualify from the group following their defeat at home to the Greeks last week – and then a trip to Celtic Park in the Premiership next Sunday.
But the Hampden clash with Hibs is the biggest of the three: a chance to move one step from silverware.
At Motherwell, the improved work-rate, in the first half especially, was very noticeable and some of the play was excellent.
I haven’t seen much of Motherwell this season. They didn’t look great – but I think it is because Aberdeen didn’t let them get into a flow or rhythm.
Dons boss Robson went with just Bojan Miovski upfront for Fir Park, which raised a few eyebrows. However, those tactics proved to be spot on.
The additional player in midfield seemed to be the spark to get Aberdeen playing with the ball on the ground, and led to impressive performances from the likes of Jamie McGrath – with two goals to prove it – and Leighton Clarkson.
Right-back Nicky Devlin, who also scored, was another influential figure with his overlapping runs on the flank.
Striker Bojan Miovski adding thousands of pounds to valuation with every performance
It was a great, unified team performance, but Miovski – though he didn’t score on Wednesday – is the one player who has been consistently impressive for the Dons this season.
He is putting thousands on his valuation with every outing, and my fear is a club will come along sooner rather than later ready to pay big money for him.
His running in Lanarkshire was superb and he wasn’t giving the Well defenders a minute’s piece, doing a lot of the legwork for both Devlin’s goal and McGrath’s second.
Barry rang the changes towards the end of the game, which I think was the right thing with the semi-final to come.
Duk – a favourite topic of my column this season, for the wrong reasons – was among the subs sent on and managed to get himself on the scoresheet.
I said after Duk scored at Rangers I hoped it would be the boost the striker needed to return to the form of last season. It didn’t happen after his Ibrox goal, so hopefully his header at Well does the trick, and I noted how much energy he seemed to have – working hard and chasing back – after netting.
Individual errors and concentration lapses must be eradicated from Dons’ game as they could be key moments
Of course, the end to the game was slightly frustrating, with the home side, who didn’t look anything like scoring, being allowed to get two goals to pull the score back to 4-2.
Keeper Kelle Roos seemed to be partially at fault for the first one, while Slobodan Rubezic’s poor header was capitalised upon for Well’s second.
It was a reminder to Robson’s team, although they found a performance against Motherwell, they must cut out individual errors and keep their concentration for 90 minutes – and especially at the start and end of each half – if they are going to keep their goals against column down and be successful this term.
They’ll need to be solid at Hampden on Saturday to reach the League Cup final, and it is a nip-tuck Premiership table so far this season, with one win moving the Dons up five places in midweek – so who knows how important the odd goal let in here or there could be.
Still, psychologically, the improvement in their top-flight standing will be a big boost for Aberdeen and their supporters. It’s early in the season, but it isn’t a nice feeling to be down around the relegation zone when you’re a club where European qualification is expected.
Once the cup semi is taken care of, the Dons must put a league run together, as a string of four or five results at this stage could be very valuable in determining the outcome of the league season.
Hibs no great shakes and Aberdeen’s attitude will be all-important
I watched Hibs lose two late goals themselves to draw 2-2 with Ross County on Tuesday, and they don’t look a great team, despite the upturn in their results since appointing Nick Montgomery as their manager.
They are on the way up, but haven’t been rattling off wins with excellent play or anything, and they are a place behind the Dons in the table.
It is similar situation to Aberdeen – where they have only had about two or three good displays of their own so far this season.
At Hampden, the sides’ attitudes will go a long way to shaping who reaches the cup final.
If the Dons go out with the same determination and work-rate they showed at Fir Park, which set the stage for their impressive footballing performance, then they will give themselves a superb chance of getting through.
Stuart Kennedy’s ‘shot’ saw Aberdeen beat Hibs in 1978 League Cup semi-final
I played the last time Aberdeen beat Hibs in a League Cup semi-final – at Dens Park in December 1978.
I remember it well, with full-back Stuart Kennedy scoring the only goal in the game to secure our passage to the final (which we lost to Rangers).
Stuart always tried to claim he meant to shoot – and tell us what a great goal it was.
However, the rest of us told him to get a grip, as we suspected it was intended as a cross.
I barely remember Stuart having a pop at goal in the five years I played with him.
But he always tended to float in his crossed balls.
In the semi-final, his ball off the right went about 10 miles up in the air, and came down with snow on it when it bamboozled Hibs goalkeeper Mike McDonald and dropped into their goal at the far post.
But it counted and we went through – that’s the main thing!
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