Aberdeen's Graeme Shinnie on chance for redemption v Rangers

Aberdeen's Graeme Shinnie in action against Rangers' Carlos Pena. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS

The Dons suffered their first away defeat in the Scottish Premiership since February as they lost 3-0 to a Rangers side who are now just three points behind them in the league table.

The teams meet again at Pittodrie on Sunday with Shinnie admitting he and his team-mates have much soul-searching to do before the rematch.

“We need to take a good look at ourselves from what happened at Ibrox and make sure we are more prepared for Sunday,” said Shinnie.

“There is no better game to go into next than this one. We can put things right and we need to. Everyone is gutted after a performance like that on Wednesday. The motivation will be there to right a wrong and do a lot better.

“The first half especially, we never got going at all. We made the worst possible start we could have. We came out to frustrate them and to get the crowd on their back but the opposite happened. They got their early goal and that gave them a massive lift.

“We weren’t good enough and gave them too much time and space. We gave ourselves too much to do although we played better in the second half. But we had a mountain to climb from the first half.

“We are desperate to win the game on Sunday. We will need to be on top of our game because Rangers will be looking to hunt us down in the league table. We will rest up and prepare for it. It will be different with the home crowd behind us. We need to use the crowd so we can unite as one.”

Although Aberdeen are still second in the Premiership, Shinnie, pictured, admits their form has not consistently been at the level they would hope for.

“We’ve picked up some good results but I don’t think we have hit the heights we know we can, barring a couple of games,” he added.

“I don’t think we have been as good as we can be. We need to pick ourselves up now and show what a good team we are on Sunday.”

Shinnie was part of an Aberdeen midfield largely dominated by Rangers at Ibrox in that department, with his former team-mate and predecessor as Dons captain Ryan Jack an influential figure for the hosts. But Shinnie played down the significance of the battle between them.

“I have been up against plenty of ex-team mates and likewise people have played against me,” he said. “It is no different. We try to focus on ourselves. We just didn’t get going at all in the first half and that is the most disappointing thing.”