Darren Mackie staying put as he bids for cup glory with Aberdeen

The Dens Park club’s manager Barry Smith made two attempts this week to sign someone whose current contract expires in the summer.

Mackie knows his 13-year Aberdeen career is coming to an end but insists he still has unfinished business to take care of before he leaves Pittodrie.

The striker watched from the stands when the Dons lost 4-0 to Rangers in the last major final they featured in, back in May 2000. He was still at school when the Pittodrie club won their last trophy by beating Dundee in the 1995 Coca-Cola Cup final with Roy Aitken as manager.

Now he is determined to round off his testimonial year in style with a Hampden Park showpiece and an open top bus ride down Union Street with the Scottish Cup.

Mackie said: “I was flattered to get the offer from Dundee and, obviously, my contract is coming to an end but, if I don’t get a new one here, then I want the chance to end my time here by winning a trophy. It’s been so long since we won a cup so to do that as an Aberdeen player would mean everything to me.

“I have been an Aberdeen supporter all my life and I know how much it means to all the fans to win a trophy again after all these years. As long as I’ve been at Aberdeen I have wanted to bring silverware to the club and the chance is still there to do that.

“I was in the stands watching the last time we were in the final, but I was just breaking through to the first team so I wasn’t involved.

“That’s why it would be the perfect way to round off my testimonial year with the club with an appearance at Hampden and, hopefully, lift the Scottish Cup.

“Obviously I have wanted to play more for the team, but I am just as positive and determined as ever that I can force my way back into the side to finish the season on a high.”

The closest Mackie has come to a final was four years ago when Aberdeen lost to Queen of the South in a semi-final that stands out as a low point in his career. He is one of only two remaining Dons players who took part in that match, the other being Andrew Considine, whose two goals weren’t enough to avoid a humiliating 4-3 defeat.

Now it’s Gus MacPherson’s Queen of the South who stand between Aberdeen and a place in the quarter-finals and Mackie insists the pain of 2008 will never go away.

He added: “That defeat against Queen of the South was one of the biggest blows of my entire career as it was a massive chance to get to a final.

“Jimmy Calderwood was the manager then and we let him down, we let ourselves down and we let everyone associated with the club down.

“It wasn’t the best of days as I was disappointed not to start as I had got our winner at Celtic Park in the previous round.

“I did get on as a substitute but it was one of those days where everything that could go wrong for us, did go wrong and it was a huge blow.

“We can never get revenge for that result as there’s only a couple of boys left at Pittodrie since then but our fans will certainly always remember it.

“What it does prove is that anything can happen in the cup, so it is a warning to make sure that our levels don’t slip this time round as we have the quality to win the game.”