Richard Gordon

memorable nights

It was a truly incredible evening.

To have lost Joe Shaughnessy so early, and to still go on to book a semi-final place in the League Cup was quite a feat.

The possession stats must have been frightening, but the longer the second half went on Motherwell seemed to be running out of ideas and from the moment Shaun Hutchinson’s header came crashing back off the bar there was a change in the game.

We grew in confidence, counter-attacked with real menace, and of course snatched the tie.

The explosion of joy behind that goal when Andrew Considine rose to bullet home his header was a sight to behold, matched only by the sense of relief when Jonny Hayes raced away to crash the ball into the roof of the net. It was only then that I relaxed and fully believed we were going to do it.

The players were quite magnificent, and while it is probably unfair to single out anyone, a special mention for the captain Russell Anderson who had, I thought, perhaps his finest ninety minutes in an Aberdeen shirt. Given what he’s done for us over the years, that’s saying something!

Now everyone, understandably, is thinking about finally ending all those years without silverware. If it is to happen – and given the disappointments since 1995, I’m trying desperately not to get too caught up in the excitement – it would be absolutely superb to see Russell holding aloft that trophy, a fitting reward for the service he has given our club.

A word too for the management team. Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty have quietly gone about their business, working hard, getting the players onside and impressing everyone in and around the club with their passion and their ideas. They have done an excellent job so far, but Derek is quite right, publicly at least, to try to keep a lid on things.

He knows just what it would mean to the city, the club, to all of us to see the Dons as winners again, but there’s no point in shouting from the rooftops about what we’re going to do. His route is the right one – the talking will be done on the park.

I know there were some doubters when he was appointed; I would hope they have been won over by what he is putting in place and the steps so far taken to try to ensure what looks like being a promising season turns into an historic one.

One of the real plusses about reaching the semis is knowing that for the next three months we have something to look forward to. Because of the lengthy gap between the ties I often find myself around the turn of the year struggling to remember who the League Cup semi-finalists are. Somehow, I don’t think that will be a problem this season.

Finally, mention must be made of the staggering Dons support, all 2,635 of you! To all but fill that away end at Fir Park on a Wednesday night is just brilliant. To put it in context, we had more away fans at that game than the total attendance at both Cappielow and the previous night in Inverness.

I hope and pray we all have something to get even more excited about in the spring of 2014.