Being 4-0 up on aggregate from the first leg we can send the kids up to this one...

In all seriousness I have the fear for Wednesday. As well as we played on Sunday, 4-0 flattered us and County had plenty of chances of their own. But a repeat performance should hopefully see us through to another Hampden semi.

I imagine it'll be the same side but someone (Hayes most likely) replacing McGarry. He might freshen it up a little with Clarkson in for McGrath, and Polvara back in for someone.

I'm gonna say 1-2 Aberdeen after extra-time. A nervy night.

Good win. Some good performances and an all round comfortable victory..... until Rubezic decided to Rubezic. Really bad defending, completely inexcusable. It was backs to the wall from that point, and it's very difficult to change from cruising to then trying to hold onto the ball for dear life. We got there though. Shinnie motm. Good setup and plenty of changes to keep things fresh, which was good to see. 

Rubezic is a problem though, we really can't afford that type of error in games. I don't think MacDonald is a like for like replacement and is probably too similar to the two next to him. I'm assuming Williams is just pish? Oh well, get stuck into the Hun.

Hibs. Take that like.

Could and probably should have been further ahead in the first half, but generally a well composed performance until the Rubi moment. That really fucked things up for us.

Great to see Sokler get his first goal, and Shinnie's, well, what a peach!

Hibs will hopefully have found time to stutter by then, good win for them tonight.

15 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Why is Helsinki important? I don't disagree about the Hun, but our European games are basically a free hit against teams that are probably better than us. I'd say that staying in the race for third is as important than the cash for a win in Europe. 

We didn't qualify for Europe just to roll over and finish bottom like we're Hearts.

Win and it's worth €500,000 and helps improve our coefficient for future draws.

Beating Rangers would be lovely, but Thursday bigger imo.

 

We've avoided Hearts again. Which is a peculiar thing. 

Both clubs make it to Hampden regularly, more regularly than most in Scottish football. Yet, in the two cup competitions, throughout all the years, we've only ever played two semi-finals against each other and one final.

In the last 16 years, there has been seven occasions where Aberdeen and Hearts have both been in the semi-final draw together and have avoided each other each time; four in the League Cup and three times in the Scottish Cup. And of course, they've not met in a final in any of those years - the closest being 2014 when Aberdeen made the LC final, but Hearts - despite playing in Edinburgh against nine-man Inverness - lost on penalties.

On the contrary, this will be the fifth Aberdeen-Hibs semi-final I'll have been at. The others being 93, 00, 12 and 17. Won three and lost one. Two of those years, Hearts were also in the semis.

The chances of an Aberdeen v Hearts final this year? Well, incredibly, in their near 150 year history, Hearts have never beaten Rangers at Hampden.

That semifinal against Hibs in 00 was magic. Andy Dows barmy army. I was working in a pub in Corstorphine that had become a Hibs stronghold after former jambo Dave Cluney (who had barred them all) retired. All those Hibees went to the semi, so I corralled the small band of jambos who were there into supporting Aberdeen that day whilst it was on the pub big screen. Fkn hilarious seeing jambos singing "Andy  Dows Barmy Army" whilst spilling pints all over the seats where the Hibees usually sit 

Edited September 28, 20232 yr by Reekie_Red

Aye that 00 semi was good. Sunday night kick-off so think we only sold 6500 tickets but everyone was up for it. Everyone wanted us to lose because Hibs for the cup and all that. 
 

93 we played them at Tynecastle when it was still terracing, Scott Booth winner. Hearts took the lead against Rangers at Celtic Park at the same time as we scored so for a brief time we thought we were getting an Aberdeen/Hearts final.

2012 is one of those games you're glad we lost, as we were gash and probably would have been on the end of the 5-1 drubbing Hibs got in the final off Hearts. I also think that defeat was the catalyst for the Aberdeen board beginning to realise we needed to invest more in the squad.

2017 was one of my favourite away days. First time we'd put on a supporters bus, everyone pished, five-goal thriller, lovely.
 

 

15 hours ago, Panda said:

We've avoided Hearts again. Which is a peculiar thing. 

Both clubs make it to Hampden regularly, more regularly than most in Scottish football. Yet, in the two cup competitions, throughout all the years, we've only ever played two semi-finals against each other and one final.

In the last 16 years, there has been seven occasions where Aberdeen and Hearts have both been in the semi-final draw together and have avoided each other each time; four in the League Cup and three times in the Scottish Cup. And of course, they've not met in a final in any of those years - the closest being 2014 when Aberdeen made the LC final, but Hearts - despite playing in Edinburgh against nine-man Inverness - lost on penalties.

Someone more cynical than me might suggest you are looking at this the wrong way, and instead might ask this:  how many times has the other two teams been the cheeks, and what automatically happens if Dons and Hearts aren't drawn together in a semi-final?

I should probably add that such a person is probably too cynical to even bother looking at the data to check.

Edited September 28, 20232 yr by OxfordDon

1 hour ago, OxfordDon said:

Someone more cynical than me might suggest you are looking at this the wrong way, and instead might ask this:  how many times has the other two teams been the cheeks, and what automatically happens if Dons and Hearts aren't drawn together in a semi-final?

I should probably add that such a person is probably too cynical to even bother looking at the data to check.

Well, the last time Aberdeen & Hearts did actually get drawn against each other (1996), the other semi was... Rangers v Celtic.

45 minutes ago, Panda said:

Well, the last time Aberdeen & Hearts did actually get drawn against each other (1996), the other semi was... Rangers v Celtic.

Clearly a conspiracy to throw us off the scent.

No highlights anywhere?   

Re Rubezic -  seen various comments from the usual suspects(elsewhere),Donkey,get rid,... blah blah.     Is him being raw but with potential reasonable to say? Doesnt help that MacDonalds been pretty poor when hes came in this season.Nae sure whether to grit teeth for the time being,in the hope playing with Jensen and Gartenmann will bring him on,..or whether to bench him for now,his confidence looked pretty shot last night.     

1 hour ago, Elgindon said:

No highlights anywhere?   

Red TV.

I paid £9 to sign up for a month just to listen to the commentary last night.

1 hour ago, Elgindon said:

Re Rubezic -  seen various comments from the usual suspects(elsewhere),Donkey,get rid,... blah blah.     Is him being raw but with potential reasonable to say? Doesnt help that MacDonalds been pretty poor when hes came in this season.Nae sure whether to grit teeth for the time being,in the hope playing with Jensen and Gartenmann will bring him on,..or whether to bench him for now,his confidence looked pretty shot last night.     

MacDonald will get his chance at some point on account Rubezic is surely not far away from a red card.

1 hour ago, Panda said:

Red TV.

I paid £9 to sign up for a month just to listen to the commentary last night.

MacDonald will get his chance at some point on account Rubezic is surely not far away from a red card.

I think i'm probably more concerned with MacDonald tbh. From memory, according to the fans at the time, this is the form he was apparently showing for his previous club. Rubi is a walking red card but i'll give him the benefit of the doubt as he's young and moved to a new country. Hasn't played much first team football so i'm hoping with the stewardship of Jensen and Gartenmann he will come good. That said, those will should also help MacDonald?