Former Don Billy Stark believes the Aberdeen support can roar Jimmy Thelin’s side on to a return to Hampden this weekend.
Aberdeen welcome Championship side Queen’s Park to Pittodrie in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, knowing victory will take them to the National Stadium for their second semi-final this season.
It has been 35 years since Aberdeen last won the trophy and Stark knows the Spiders’ shock win at Rangers in the last round will have fans across the country daring to dream.
Stark said: “I know the Pittodrie crowd can be quite vociferous when they’re not doing well – and I’m sure that’s been the case at times during the difficult run.
“But the crowd will be fully behind their team right from the off because they know their team has a great opportunity to get to a final.
“Obviously Celtic are big favourites to win the cup, but for all the other teams, they’ll be thinking they have a great chance to get to Hampden.
“Once you are there, anything can happen.”
Surprise factor has gone for the Spiders
Queen’s Park’s 1-0 win against Rangers at Ibrox in the last round is the shock result in Scottish football this season.
Aberdeen have also beaten the Spiders already this season, with Topi Keskinen’s injury-time goal on his debut giving the Dons a 1-0 win at Pittodrie in the League Cup in August.
Stark – who won the Scottish Cup with the Dons twice, in 1984 and 1986 – believes the loss of the element of surprise has added to the size of the task facing Callum Davidson’s side at Pittodrie.
He said: “I think there’s an edge taken off it with Queen’s Park because of the result in the previous round – a result like that makes everyone take notice.
“It becomes a wee bit more difficult for them to reproduce that and the fact it’s also at Pittodrie makes it a big ask for them.
“Aberdeen’s start to the season was phenomenal, but then the slump they had was equally, if not more, dramatic.
“They’re getting back an even keel in some respects and coming back with two late goals to get a draw against Dundee United at the weekend will feel like a win given how late the equaliser came.”
Stark on the night Queen’s Park stunned the Dons
Stark knows how big a feat it would be if Queen’s Park are able to pull off a repeat of their stunning Ibrox win at Pittodrie on Saturday.
The former Don led the Spiders to a shock win against the Dons in the League Cup in 2006 when his side were in the old Third Division.
The 5-3 penalty shoot-out win, after the game had ended goalless after 120 minutes, was a huge achievement for Stark’s me, while then-Dons boss Jimmy Calderwood labelled the result the worst of his 40-year career.
Stark said: “I think probably Jimmy was correct. You compare it to Queen’s Park beating Rangers at Ibrox last month and while it was a huge result again, I would still give our win the edge.
“In terms of Queen’s Park today they are now a fully-professional team in the Championship – we were amateurs in the old Third Division.
“Whilst it was a major shock to win at Ibrox, I think our result and performance maybe shades it.
“We had amateur players that played for the love of playing. Obviously they had some guys that had some big ambitions to go further in the game and did so eventually – but at that time they were just young boys with some good experienced players.
“We had Mark Cairns, the goalkeeper, Paul Ronald and the likes of Alan Trouten, Stuart Kettlewell, Rob Bowers and Steven Canning. We had some really good footballers.”
‘There are wee things that go for you’
The part-time amateurs were huge underdogs against Calderwood’s side, but Stark, who labelled his side’s result as phenomenal at the time, stands by his assessment today.
He said: “It was a big night for everybody concerned.
“I think we deserved the draw over the 90 minutes.
“Obviously, Aberdeen had a bit of domination, and we did well without the ball in terms of restricting them.
“I remember the grass was a wee bit longer as well for early season, so that helped us a bit as well in terms of Aberdeen moving the ball quickly.
“There are wee things that go for you, but I don’t think you can underestimate the magnitude of that victory – especially going into extra time with part-time players that were going to work the next morning.
“We felt, as most people would agree with, that you need to defend properly to have any chance before you start thinking about scoring a goal.
“Obviously we didn’t have many chances that night, but goalscoring wasn’t a great problem over the season against our own level of opposition.
“In the shootout, I can remember Mark Cairns’ spot kick in particular as it was maybe a wee bit controversial seeing a goalkeeper taking a penalty.
“But I knew the way he struck the ball -and he absolutely hammered it into the roof of the net!
“Then, of course, Trouten scored the winning penalty. He’s had a career where he’s been a great penalty-taker and showed great composure and stroked it away.”
Firhill was a lucky home from home for the Spiders
The shock shootout win was one highlight of a memorable 2006-07 campaign for the Spiders.
A season which started with cup shocks ended with promotion via the play-offs, all achieved against the backdrop of some of the decisive moments being played away from their home at Hampden.
When the Dons came unstuck to the Spiders it was at Firhill in August 2006 – with the game moved from the National Stadium due to a Rolling Stones concert.
It was not the only time Firhill was used as a home from home that season for Queen’s Park, but it proved to be a lucky charm…
Stark said: “We had to move from Hampden a couple of times that season. We played the first leg of the play-off final against East Fife at Firhill at the end of the season as well.
“We had a good experience again as we won the first leg 4-2 before winning the second leg, too, to win promotion. It was a terrific season all round.
“We had a young group with plenty of energy and enthusiasm, and sometimes we underestimate that.
“You see that with some of the big clubs now that are getting criticised for not running about enough – that certainly wasn’t a problem for us.
“We had really good energy, we had a good appetite for the game, and we had some nice players in good positions.”
Conversation