Aberdeen midfielder Jamie McGrath insists Dundee will be “smelling blood” as they look to inflict further pain on the wounded Dons following their League Cup defeat to Celtic.
Jimmy Thelin suffered his first loss as Dons manager at Hampden on Saturday as the Hoops ran out 6-0 winners in a one-sided semi-final.
It was a sobering first defeat for Thelin and his players who will be looking to bounce back when they return to league duty this weekend.
The Dons remain undefeated in the Scottish Premiership and are second in the table with 28 points from a possible 30 and McGrath knows all eyes will be on the Dons’ response at Pittodrie on Saturday.
He said: “I think everybody watches every Aberdeen game so we can’t let the semi-final affect us.
“We’ve played Dundee already but no game in this league is easy.
“Every team can take points off everyone and we’ve seen that so far this season.
“They’ll be coming here, probably smelling blood so we have to be on it from minute one.
“We know the pressure of playing for Aberdeen.
“We’re just looking at one game at a time and Dundee is next so we have to obviously not let last weekend affect us too much.”
McGrath wants to repay fans’ backing
Aberdeen’s defeat was the heaviest the club has suffered at Hampden but the travelling Dons support still cheered and applauded the players in recognition of their remarkable efforts so far in the campaign.
McGrath says the sight of the warmth shown to the players when at their lowest was gratefully received by the squad.
The fans’ backing has also strengthened the team’s determination to get back to winning ways in front of a sold-out Pittodrie this weekend.
He said: “We have to bounce back on Saturday and give the travelling fans something to shout about because they were on our side singing at the end of the game.
“They could have easily turned on us but to see them standing there, not leaving and singing right to the end, it was very pleasing.
“I can only speak from my time here and they’ve been brilliant. Even last season when things weren’t going amazingly, they still backed us.
“There’s a real togetherness in the fans this season even more.
“You’ve seen that with Pittodrie getting packed out and the atmosphere that’s been generated, and the travelling support every week has been unbelievable so far.
“I think Saturday is probably the first time we’ve not done them justice.”
‘We can’t let this affect us’
Dons captain Graeme Shinnie believes there was much to be learned from his side’s first defeat of the season.
For McGrath, knowing how much his side can be punished if their performance levels dip is the biggest takeaway from the National Stadium.
He said: “We’ll take a lot of learning from it but of course we’re very disappointed to lose in the manner we did.
“We are disappointed not to bring the fans another trip to a cup final but like the gaffer touched on, it’s a bump in the road.
“We’ve had a brilliant start to the season so we can’t let this affect us majorly.
“The manager said there’s a lot to learn from it and we can agree but we weren’t, as a team, at our brilliant best.
“If you’re a few percent off against Celtic, they’ll punish you in a matter of minutes.
“We have our principles and we’re never going to go away from them and every week we’re adding something to the mix.
“We’re learning constantly. It’s still very early days under the manager and we have to learn quickly. I think we have learned quickly so far.
“I think we look like a right good team on our day, but we can still obviously improve.
“We’re trying to catch the likes of Celtic and Rangers so yeah, there’ll be blips in the road but hopefully now that’s us for a while.”
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