Gutted Graeme Shinnie last night insisted Aberdeen can’t let a moment of madness from Anthony Stewart derail their season.
The Dons star was left gutted as they took Rangers into extra time before they fell to a Kemar Roofe winner. Shinnie admitted the game swung in Rangers’ favour after Anthony Stewart had flown into a late challenge on Fashion Sakala and saw him given a straight red card at the end of normal time. It left the Dons with a mountain to climb and one they were unable to scale with 10 men.
Shinnie acknowledged it was a body blow to lose the game but Jim Goodwin’s side can’t afford to feel sorry for themselves as they have a third-placed shoot-out at Hearts on Wednesday and then have a Scottish Cup clash against Darvel. Shinnie said: “Anthony’s down, very down – but I told him how good a game he’d been having and not to let a moment of madness distract him from what’s to come.
“All we can do is support him. We win and lose as a team and he’s part of us.
“There’s no blame on him, it’s just what happens sometimes in football. As for what he said to us, that’s really not for me to say.”
The on-loan Wigan player reckons Stewart’s red card was questionable. “The red card changes the game,” Shinnie insisted. “Once we were down to 10, they had a lot more of the ball and it was harder for us to get up the park.
“It was a moment of rashness. I’ve seen it again and thought it might have been a yellow but once the referee’s shown a straight red it isn’t going to be changed because it isn’t a clear and obvious error.
“That put the game in their favour. But we fought to the end and we still had chances.
“On another day, one of them might have gone in and we might have taken it to penalties. Unfortunately we couldn’t nick that goal and just didn’t do enough in the end.
“In matches like this, with Anthony having such a good game, his confidence is high and he maybe thinks he can get the ball with a good tackle,but he’s mistimed it. There will be arguments because some people will think it was and some that will feel it wasn’t but it had a big bearing on the result.”
The Dons had made the perfect start at Hampden, going ahead in the first half to a Bojan Miovski opener. Shinnie reckons Aberdeen’s cause wasn’t helped by injuries to Duk and Leighton Clarkson and the massive deflection for Rangers’ equaliser.
He said: “At our goal, Bojan Miovski’s offside but he lets the ball run, Matty makes a run down the outside and maybe there’s a lapse in concentration from Rangers to let him in. Matty got the cross in, Bojan finished it well and it was exactly what we’d worked on – getting Leighton into spaces for balls in behind and at that point I felt like it was working.
“After that it was about trying to get Matty Kennedy and Jonny Hayes on the ball to get ourselves up the park and try to create something. We’d also lost Duk and Leighton Clarkson which meant more changes and players coming into a semi-final needing to get up to the speed of the game really quickly.
“We’re all disappointed and it’s a tough way to lose such a big game but we need to take the positives, because games are coming thick and fast. We’re away to Hearts on Wednesday, which is massive, so all we can do is go again.”
The sending off forced Aberdeen into a reshuffle and Matty Kennedy had to be deployed as an emergency right-back, with Ross McCrorie moving in one. Scott Wright got behind Kennedy for Roofe’s winner. Kennedy was forced to switch to his less natural defensive tendencies.
Kennedy said: “With the red card I got pushed back to right back which is an unfamiliar position for me. Scotty (Wright) did well and got by me and put a ball into the box and somebody has nicked in front and got the touch. They got the goal.
“Against Rangers you need 11 men on the pitch. It is hard when you go down to 10 but the fans can be proud of what we put into the game and how much we tried to win it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it.”
Kennedy admitted there is a fair bit of hurt but knows it will need to be harnessed in a positive way for the trip to Tynecastle. There are some big games in the league and cup and the Dons need to get back to winning ways, even if they could be missing some key players for the trip to the capital.
The winger said: ”It is a big game. We need to dust ourselves down and try to recover. We need to get to Wednesday and look to put it right then. I am 28 now and I am used to winning some and losing some.
“You look forward to the next game. You dust yourself, put the defeat behind you and go again. No matter if you have a defeat you want to move on. A quick turnover. Hopefully, we can put that right and put some points on the board.”
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