Aberdeen manager Barry Robson hailed his players for giving him “every ounce” and urged them to get back to Hampden more often after they lost out to Rangers 1-0 in the Viaplay Cup final.

The Dons were undone by James Tavernier’s goal on 77 minutes in what was a keenly-contested final. However, Aberdeen – who were able to call upon star striker Bojan Miovski after a fitness scare – were unable to create a serious chance of note and failed to hit the target with ten of their shots during their match.

“I thought it was a tight game,” said Robson. “The two teams brought a lot of emotion to the game. It’s been a while since we won the cup and a while Rangers won the cup, I think in the first half our structure was pretty good and that transition that we are normally good at, they were scared of. We had the chance to do that two or three times and I thought we could have cut them open. In the second half we tried to have a go with our subs making positive impacts. We tried to go and win the game and we just fell short.”

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson during the Viaplay Cup final against Rangers.

Asked what his emotions were after the game, Robson continued: “Not very good. We’d just lost the game. When you have Rangers Football Club hanging on at the end and kicking balls out the pitch, that shows you what we are trying to do as a team and we want to get back here more often. I told them at the end: ‘well done’. They gave me every drop, every ounce. I don’t know where people get this thing – that’s Rangers we were playing. They are a good side. They’ve just beaten Real Betis in Spain, you’ve got to remember that. They are a really good team with a really good manager. We’ve come down here and we know that. We don’t expect Aberdeen to come down here and run the whole game. That’s a proper team we were playing against. So, we had a go and I’m just frustrated for the fans that we couldn’t give them the win.”

Robson refused to use Thursday night’s exertions against Eintracht Frankfurt as an excuse for any lethargy in his team’s performance, pointing out that Rangers were also in action at the same time. “I think both teams had it so you can't say anything about that,” Robson said. “We rested a few players – and some of the boys did well – so that's not an excuse. Rangers have had pretty much the same schedule as us. The game might have had a bit more spark, from both teams, that's fair to say.

"It's hard when you come up against a team that has got real quality. We knew that in transition teams are scared of us but we never quite got that right. In the second half we got a bit better with the ball but we could have been better at times, but it's an emotional game, I'm sure Rangers think they could have been a bit better. We did huff and puff a wee bit – so did Rangers, to be fair – but Tavernier has had a bit of quality at the end and he's always got that.”

'Every ounce': Barry Robson reacts to Aberdeen's Rangers defeat and reveals what he told players at end