Derek McInnes Post Match Quotes | from the Hampden Press Room
The match
“Any final defeat is a sore one and there can only be one winner.
“We put a team out there to give us a chance to win a trophy and there’s no doubting Celtic have the bigger and better players, but my players gave absolutely everything.
“We had to give some sort of structure to contain Celtic and I thought we restricted them to very few chances, which isn’t easy.
“We still wanted to try and break quickly and counter and make sure we had speed in the wider areas. I thought we had that in McGinn, Logan, Lowe and Mackay-Steven. Maybe the little lull in the game when Gary goes off – thankfully he’s ok and sitting up in hospital -, but at the time we were very worried about him.
“All of a sudden there was a gap at centre back that there should never have been and it’s too inviting a gap for Christie not to run into. It’s fine margins and Joe still makes the save, but the ball could fall anywhere and unfortunately for us it lands straight back at Ryan’s feet.
“I was thinking prior to that was I was going to say to the players to ‘give yourselves a mental pat in the back and do your job again.’
“We needed a more polished performance at the top of the pitch. There were a lot of young players out there. Ferguson and McLennan will be at the heart of this team for the next few seasons and I’m really proud of my team.
“We set them up in a way to try and give ourselves a chance to take a trophy back to Aberdeen and unfortunately it wasn’t the case.”
Gary Mackay-Steven
“I saw his family at the dugout and there was an obvious concern there. The word got back to me that he was unconscious and there was a certain bit of urgency to get the medics on. Thankfully he’s sitting up in hospital and getting his tests done. It will hopefully be just a straightforward concussion and obviously he misses the next game.
“I’m gutted for Gary himself because he was so looking forward to the final and an opportunity to shine. I think it took a wee bit away from us, but in saying that I think young Connor got to the pace of the game well and he was the right sub for us at that time. Again, he caused them problems, but thankfully Gary’s ok, but there’s no doubt teams like ourselves are dependent on our big players being available and it was unfortunate he had to come off.”
The Goal
“We had spoken about how Edouard likes to come off the centre backs to create space and he did it a few times in the first half. We were smart enough with our work and kept him at arm’s length and stayed strong through the middle.
“I just thought there was too big a gap and too inviting and Christie exploits the space. We nearly salvaged it with a brilliant save from Joe and we had to depend on Joe again for a penalty that should never have been awarded.”
Key Decisions
“I’m disappointed we’ve lost the game and disappointed with some of the key decisions also.
“That doesn’t do us any real harm, but it wasn’t a penalty in the first place and if we’ve not got a goalie like Joe Lewis it could be 2-0 and far more difficult. He’s clearly outside the box (Dominic Ball) and I thought that at the time. I also felt there was another yellow card challenge from Christie on the half way line when Dom breaks.
“The referee has indicated he’s played the ball, but he clearly hasn’t. Those big decisions with Celtic going down to 10 men at that period may well have made it different. You need a lot of things to go for you in a final and it might sound churlish, but the fact of the matter is a couple of decisions were really harsh on my team.”
Ambition To Get Back to Hampden
“When you get to finals you can’t pick and choose your opponents and Celtic two years ago were the best team in a generation. Everyone lauded them for that and rightly so with the season they had. They’ve got their mojo back certainly after the last six weeks or so.
“You listen to anybody before today it was just a case of Celtic having to turn up as long as they got any level of performance they were just going to swot us away, but we tried to make sure that wasn’t going to be the case.
“I think we delivered that type of performance, but we were close. Finals are thin margins and there’s a lot of pride in the performance, but it’s just real disappointment because we set out at the start of the tournament to win it. We knew Celtic are the strongest side in the competition and we knew the improvements of others. We’ve beaten Rangers here, Hibs at Easter Road and St Mirren at home to get here. You’ve just got to face who you face.
“As disappointing as it is we’ve lost another final and there is some sort of solace for some of my younger ones. I just said to them there that if you hang about long enough at this club you’ll eventually become a winner – I’m pretty sure of that.
“I intend to make sure I come back to a final with Aberdeen and I intend to win another trophy. While you can never say with any certainty, I’m pretty sure I will regardless of how well other teams are doing.”
Looking Ahead
“It’s back to work tonight.
“The phsyios and staff will really work on the players to get us ready. There was never going to be any real celebration if we’d won with nine games in December and a game every three days doesn’t allow you to have any celebration.
“It was always the intention to stay tonight in Glasgow and prepare for Rangers. We’ll have dinner together, we’ll see our families tonight, but the players have work to do to get ready for Wednesday.
“You look for any positives and it is only disappointment at the minute.
“You’re always looking at your team, especially the younger ones that haven’t been through the course before.
“To deal with the actual game, as it’s been aimed at us before in the past ‘Aberdeen don’t deal with the big games’ – We’ve won three times in Glasgow in the last eight games, no other team has done that. We get beaten up with that and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game and they dealt with it.
“There is a weight of expectation at Aberdeen and nobody knows that more than me. The players know that and there’s a couple of local lads there as well as Lewis Ferguson who looks like he’s been playing for ten years. It gives me encouragement and we’ve got to look after him. Days like today doesn’t do them any harm in their development. We’ll get back to finals at Aberdeen and as difficult it is, I’m pretty sure these younger ones will become winners.”
