"Adam Rooney, with a chance to win the cup for Aberdeen..... and he does"
Almost eleven months have passed since Aberdeen's long awaited collection of silverware. After an agonizing nineteen years of seemingly continuous cup knock-outs, semi-final defeats and cup final heart breaks, inside Celtic Park on the 16th of March 2014 Aberdeen finally broke their trophy hoodoo, adding a 19th major trophy to their steadily extending trophy cabinet. Again, this season the Granite City side are very much in the running to lift the Cup. With the possibility of Mcinnes becoming just the fifth manager to retain the historic trophy.
Aberdeen's 2014-15 League Cup campaign began in a chilly but satisfying November evening. A modest home crowd of 6,000 endorsed their sides efforts as they assertively swept aside a poor Livingstone, 4-0 at Pittodrie. A second half hatrick from Adam Rooney, as well as an early Ash Taylor strike saw Aberdeen progress into the hat for the next round, with limited fuss.
Just over a month later, a gutsy 1-0 victory over Hamilton Accies saw the Dons progress through to a Hampden semi-final for the first time in three years, against New Firm rivals Dundee United.
Had you asked an Aberdeen fan three weeks ago "on a scale of 1-10, how confident are you about this semi-final", the answer would have most likely ranged between "8 and 10". Aberdeen were flying, off the back of eight successive wins and a solid and dependable defense seeing them concede zero throughout their eight consecutive wins.
Picking up win after win and sustaining a real distance between themselves and Celtic, Aberdeen looked to have been gathering the kind of momentum that all managers would love to have, heading into a major semi-final.
However, in Aberdeen's last two matches, a revamped defence has seen four goals conceded, four goals converted and two points picked up. Although scraping draws with Dundee and St Johnstone is hardly a crisis, but it's not the kind of form the Dons had been showing prior to the 17th of January.
The sides have played twice this season, the first being a 3-0 United victory at Pittodrie, and the most recent being a dominant Dons win at Tannadice.
With Aberdeen coming into the match in reasonably consistent form, Saturday's match is a ginormous step for the Dons to once again perform on the big stage and retain their Scottish League Cup trophy.
Almost eleven months have passed since Aberdeen's long awaited collection of silverware. After an agonizing nineteen years of seemingly continuous cup knock-outs, semi-final defeats and cup final heart breaks, inside Celtic Park on the 16th of March 2014 Aberdeen finally broke their trophy hoodoo, adding a 19th major trophy to their steadily extending trophy cabinet. Again, this season the Granite City side are very much in the running to lift the Cup. With the possibility of Mcinnes becoming just the fifth manager to retain the historic trophy.
Aberdeen's 2014-15 League Cup campaign began in a chilly but satisfying November evening. A modest home crowd of 6,000 endorsed their sides efforts as they assertively swept aside a poor Livingstone, 4-0 at Pittodrie. A second half hatrick from Adam Rooney, as well as an early Ash Taylor strike saw Aberdeen progress into the hat for the next round, with limited fuss.
Just over a month later, a gutsy 1-0 victory over Hamilton Accies saw the Dons progress through to a Hampden semi-final for the first time in three years, against New Firm rivals Dundee United.
Had you asked an Aberdeen fan three weeks ago "on a scale of 1-10, how confident are you about this semi-final", the answer would have most likely ranged between "8 and 10". Aberdeen were flying, off the back of eight successive wins and a solid and dependable defense seeing them concede zero throughout their eight consecutive wins.
Picking up win after win and sustaining a real distance between themselves and Celtic, Aberdeen looked to have been gathering the kind of momentum that all managers would love to have, heading into a major semi-final.
However, in Aberdeen's last two matches, a revamped defence has seen four goals conceded, four goals converted and two points picked up. Although scraping draws with Dundee and St Johnstone is hardly a crisis, but it's not the kind of form the Dons had been showing prior to the 17th of January.
The sides have played twice this season, the first being a 3-0 United victory at Pittodrie, and the most recent being a dominant Dons win at Tannadice.
With Aberdeen coming into the match in reasonably consistent form, Saturday's match is a ginormous step for the Dons to once again perform on the big stage and retain their Scottish League Cup trophy.