Panda

Live Championship football on the TV on Friday night. Live radio commentary from the Six Nations on Saturday. Two live radio commentaries on Sunday. Saturday Sportscene highlights Sunday Sportscene highlights Open all Mics programme across the country on Saturday. Both home and away Scotland games live on TV. And to think people don't pay their licence fee because they don't think they get their money's worth..

All the tickets for this are to be digital. You've to download the Hampden Park app to get your ticket. It's how it works for Scotland games and is relatively straightforward once you get the hang of it, but I can see large queues at the turnstiles while folk who don't like technology wave their phone about confused.

Lunchtime kick-off confirmed. Both clubs, SFA and police wanted 3pm on Saturday without any TV coverage, but on behalf of @goldie03 we fought hard for a lunchtime KO. Have also convinced ScotRail not to put on any extra trains, and transport Scotland have agreed to begin roadworks that weekend.

Well Mackenzie was injured for most of January, but since then... He's been fine, and he's our only natural left back.

I wasn't, it's the last semi-final I missed, been at every one since.

Bookmarked for when the first comment is posted on here that Shinnie doesn't have the legs or the engine to get up and down the wing and he's slowing down our attack. That said... I think a home game when we dominate possession, then left back probably suits him as we'll play a high line anyway and pass it about and be patient, so Shinnie would sit high anyway and doesn't have to cover as much ground. However, in an away game where often you're looking for pace to break quickly, I think Mackenzie and even Jensen would cause their full-back more issues. It's nice though that we have good options in midfield so can argue over who starts there.

Actually just the twice. The 86 final and the 96 semi. We did meet in a League Cup semi in 1947 where Aberdeen handed them a 6-2 shellacking, but that was at Easter Road.

Be careful with the apostrophes.

All the semi chat is in here. (I have long since argued the football & Aberdeen forums should be merged, but Rico and Manc Don are very big on thread etiquette).

Yes, both could show the Celtic game. Premier's contract is they show both semis but get one of them exclusively to them, the other also goes on the BBC. Normally, by default they pick any game involving Celtic or Rangers. It's why it makes me laugh when Celtic & Rangers are kept apart in the semi draw and everyone cries conspiracy (like last season). Premier would have been gutted because an old firm final is free on the BBC so they can't "sell" that game as much, they want them to meet in the semi when it's exclusively to them. Anyway, back to this year. Celtic likely is the default, but I think many can see Hearts/Aberdeen is the bigger game that is generating more interest, so this time it's a bit of guess work. If it's on the BBC it won't be Saturday night as scheduling reasons mean they can't, so it could only be that time if that's premier's game and they push for an evening game. However, I don't think an evening kick-off will be on the table, think it's more likely to be Sat lunchtime or Sun afternoon. Dunno which one suits us best to be honest - the Sunday being Easter Sunday will be a pain travel wise, and lunchtime is always a pain.

Yes but one of the semis is also shown on the BBC, just like the final will be on both premier & BBC. The BBC slot is usually Saturday lunchtime.

I'm old enough to remember the semis both being at 3pm on a Saturday. Certainly Aberdeen v Hibs at Tynecastle was being played at the same time as Hearts v Rangers at Celtic Park in 1993. That may have been the last year they did it. After that was moved back to Hampden so had to play different days, then TV took over.

It should be the Sunday, so it would be at 3pm to help our ticket sales. However, likely Premier will take the Celtic game, BBC's slot is Saturday usually, so lunchtime or 5:15pm would be my guess. But either way I'm buzzing for this game.

Were there any Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final type questions? If not I wouldn't have been much use.

It's for when you run your pub quiz. You've been promising to put on a pub quiz to raise funds for Donstalk for months now. I'm beginning to think I imagined the whole thing.

Here's one for the pub quiz; since 1990 Aberdeen have only won three Scottish Cup semi-finals, and all three have been against Hibs.

Wild that people still think the semi-final draws are fixed. We've got a 1/3 chance of getting any of them. We might get the winner of Livi/St Johnstone, we might get Celtic. Interesting statistic though (interesting to me at least). In the entire history of Scottish football, Aberdeen and Hearts have only ever met at Hampden twice, despite both reaching the latter stages of both cup competitions more than most. They met in the 86 final, and the 96 semi. (They have met in a League Cup semi, but it was at Easter Road). Since that 1996 game, Aberdeen have reached 11 Scottish Cup semi-finals and 11 League Cup semis (22 altogether). In that same period, Hearts have made it to nine SC semis and 11 LC semis (20). This is the fifth time they have both been in the Scottish Cup last four at the same time since 1996. They have also been in the LC semis four times together. Yet, on the previous eight occasions, they have managed to avoid each other in both the semi and final. In those same 29 years, Aberdeen have played four semi-finals v Hibs, and they have met Dundee United in four semis (granted, only one of the four were at Hampden). They've had two semis with Rangers at Hampden, and our most popular semi-final meeting is with Celtic were we've met six times - but have actually avoided Celtic in the draw more than we've been paired with them (seven). So is Monday night's draw the first time in 29 years, and just the third time in history, we are paired with Hearts at Hampden?

Hibs were so frustrating to watch. Celtic played in second gear but Hibs had no idea how to lay a glove on them, hard to think of any decent ball they put into the box. A very average side who we should be finishing above. Nicky Cadden going off injured is a blow to them too. As for the cup, having Celtic in the last four just takes away a lot of the excitement. They are so far ahead of everyone that if you beat them at Hampden you should get the trophy afterwards, so I'd feel cheated if we actually beat them in a semi and still had a final to play. A Hearts-Aberdeen semi would be electric, that would be my first choice. Would quite like the chance to avenge the 2014 semi-final loss to St Johnstone. Livingston, well you'd happily take that wouldn't you?

See, this is the inconsistency. You've gone from saying Morris shouldn't start to Morris shouldn't have come off. So you've accepted Thelin giving him more minutes than usual was good and beneficial to him and the team. You're then saying Nisbet and Dabbagh should have stayed on, but @RicoS321is saying why didn't Boyd play with Nisbet. So someone would be unhappy here. You were one of the ones saying Dabbagh - despite his goals - didn't play well, so why should he stay on? Does he even have the fitness to play longer yet? Likewise, Nisbet hasn't had much luck with injuries, we've got to be careful not to push him especially when you see his importance at the moment. Ambrose actually did okay when he came on, that's the benefits of giving a guy minutes, and we might need him at some point over the next two months. Others wanted Gueye to play on the left, which they got. Others say Topi should have stayed on. Essentially, Thelin was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. Personally, I think it was a very good day, and Ambrose, Gueye, Boyd, Milne and, to a lesser extent, Polvara all getting a decent run out was a bonus.

The same Morris you didn't want to see start? Now you're saying it was a mistake to take him off? Thelin has spoken previously about how he wants us to play at a high pace, and that it's difficult to do it for 90 minutes week after week. We had Devlin, Shinnie, Nilsen and probably Mackenzie all suffer from being overplayed this season. The job was done, we don't have the squad to keep playing guys we're going to rely on for the next two months for another 30 minutes when we don't need to. We might not get that same luxury again of being 4-0 up with an hour played. You may not rate Ambrose, but if Sokler isn't fit and Dabbagh breaks down in training next week, then we might need him for 30 minutes off the bench against St Johnstone. Thelin did the same as any competent manager would.

Yep, Hibs' bubble should already have burst because Dundee United's goal should have stood which likely would have led to a defeat. Hibs fans I speak to say they're playing no better than at the start of the season when they were bottom, but have cut out the silly mistakes. Very Aberdeen-esque. But, hopefully Hoilett makes the same impact as he did in last year's semi-final, and this time Hibs win the shoot-out. Hearts in the semi, Hibs in the final. Would be delicious.

But the game was won. It was about resting the starters. There wasn't any other forwards on the bench (Gueye appeared to play on the left when he came on, something which a few folk on here had been asking for) so the only option was to let Ambrose have a wee run out, and Boyd got a chance too. If Sokler was fit he would have got the minutes. Thought he made quite a few errors, and if Tobers is injured next week I fully expect Dorrington to keep his place ahead of him.

I'm hoping Hibs with their 7,000 away fans (fair play to them for that) can cause an almighty shock tomorrow. Aberdeen, Hearts & Hibs all in the last four with no Old Firm in sight would be brilliant.

Cup draw on Monday. I want Hearts. Never mind Livingston or St Johnstone, and never mind bloody Celtic again. Hearts, at 3pm in a Sunday, 15,000 reds down the road and let's take them. Hibs in the final.