Leighton Clarkson reflected on a job well done by the Dons as they booked a place in the League Cup’s last four with victory over Partick Thistle midweek.

“We cut them open quite well in the first half, which gave us the 3-0 lead at half-time and from there it was just a question of seeing the game out. We probably could have done more second half, but we’re going to Hampden aren’t we, so it doesn’t really worry us.

“We’ve done a lot of work on the formation over the last week, with changing to a 3-5-2. It’s important to be adaptable so that we can play in different ways to try to beat different opponents.

“I thought it worked well on Wednesday night. Hayden coming back gave us the width and Matty on the other side as well. They’re both known as attacking players but they were doing both sides of the game.”

The prospect of reaching Hampden was one of the big attractions that brought Leighton to Aberdeen as he explained.

“Before I even came here, when I was on the phone to the gaffer, he was talking about the expectations here and he pointed out the need to do well in cup competitions.

“It’s massive for the club, for the fans and we can’t wait to go down there and try to get into the final. That was why I came here, to go far in cup competitions, and to help the club finish high up the league. I’m really enjoying my football. I think we’re clicking, we’re getting there.

“But we’ll park this now until January and look forward to the Motherwell game on Saturday. We were very disappointed with the defeat here earlier in the season and to be fair, they deserved the win. They outbattled us, and that should not happen. We’ll all be on it on Saturday and give it our best shot to win the game for the fans that will travel in good numbers again.”