Derek McInnes: Aberdeen were 'spooked' by Celtic's first half display in semi-final defeat

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes during the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final match against Celtic at Hampden Park (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

The Dons started brightly only to concede two goals in quick succession after Ryan Christie’s 18th minute opener for Celtic was quickly followed five minutes later by Mohamed Elyounoussi’s second for the holders.

It left Aberdeen with a mountain to climb and although they applied some pressure after the break in search of a way back into the game, they were unable to find a way past the Celtic defence, with Neil Lennon’s men booking their place in the December 20 final against Hearts.

McInnes said: "We lined up with a really attacking team, we have had a lot of benefit from that and we wanted to strike that first blow.

"Matty Kennedy carried the fight with some great crosses and Sam Cosgrove missed a couple of chances at the back post, if he had the benefit of a few games he might have made more of them.

"Ryan Hedges had a chance when through and we tried to get to their back lot but the trade off with so many attacking players in the team is that you have to deal with the threat of Elyounoussi, (Tom) Rogic, Christie and (Odsonne) Edouard and probably for a 10 to 15-minute spell we never quite managed that.

"Their movement spooked us a wee bit more than it did last week and I think Edouard is a big part of that. I don't think we quite dealt with that."

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.