What Aberdeen star Graeme Shinnie said to Anthony Stewart after 'moment of madness' in Rangers defeat

Aberdeen star Graeme Shinnie backed captain Anthony Stewart after his red card in the Viaplay Cup semi final defeat to Rangers.

The Dons were drawing 1-1 going into stoppage time when the centre-back floored Fashion Sakala with after an overzealous challenge. It brought a red card from Nick Walsh, leaving Aberdeen to negotiate the remainder of the game with ten men. They proceeded to concede early in extra-time, Kemar Roofe’s goal proving to be the winner.

Shinnie, who put in a fine individual display, revealed he spoke to his team-mate after the match.

“The red card changes the game,” he said. “Once we were down to ten, 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.

“In games like this, with Anthony having such a good game, his confidence is high and 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 it wasn’t, but it had a big bearing on the result.

“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.”

Matty Kennedy described Stewart as a “good lad and a leader” and called on the team put it “right and put some points on the board” when they face Hearts in a huge encounter on Wednesday.

Aberdeen star Graeme Shinnie backed captain Anthony Stewart after his red card. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

“It was a tough one to take," he said. “The gaffer put out the game plan and it did work. At the end of the day, the red card totally changes it and the game. We tried to get it to penalties with 10 men but every man should be proud.”