Stephen Robinson says Aberdeen defied expectations amid praise for 23y/o who 'gets incredible amount of stick'

Stephen Robinson has stressed that it is for others to judge whether Aberdeen showed sufficient improvement to make his own job prospects seem less precarious following a narrow loss to Rangers at Hampden.

The Pittodrie manager is not winning any popularity contests with the supporters but his own players proved they are still playing for him with a committed performance in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final.

Ryan Naderi’s 82nd winner was all that separated the teams. Aberdeen skipper Kevin Nisbet passed up a glorious chance to put his own side ahead just before the decisive goal.

Rangers manager Derek McInnes (right) and Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson embrace after the Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Barclays Hampden, Glasgow. | PA

“You’d need to ask the fans if they saw positive performances,” said Robinson, when asked if the supporters might have left Hampden with a renewed sense of hope. “I can only answer for myself but I saw a group of boys give everything in adversity.

“Everyone expected us to roll over and get battered but that wasn’t the case. They’ve shown they have the character to play for Aberdeen in big games, no doubt. But we’ve told them that’s the bare minimum. Energy, organisation, work ethic.

“Any team I’ve been involved in, that’s the basis of success. They’ve shown they can do that so I’ve no complaints with their performance.”

Robinson picked out defender Jack Milne for particular praise. The 23-year-old came into the side following a defensive crisis due to injuries and performed especially well. Right-back Nicky Devlin also stood out in his first start of the season.

“Jack's a young man,” he said. “Surprisingly he's from Aberdeen and yet he still gets an incredible amount of stick. He's had one full season and he's a lovely boy that wants to learn.

“He's just learning the game. He's a young defender. You don’t really mature until you're 28, 29 in the centre-half position. I thought he showed real character today, as did the whole team. They just lacked the final bit of quality to get a goal.”

Robinson rued Nisbet’s miss after 75 minutes when Aberdeen were enjoying their best period of the match. “If you want chances to fall to anyone it’s Kevin and he also had the opportunity to play Mitchy Ntelo in with one of them when clean through," he said.

“We had grown into the game. We were organised defensively despite not knowing what our team would be until Saturday morning.

“I’m proud of the players because they gave me absolutely everything. They ran themselves into the ground and were competitive. We want to win so we’re disappointed but there were some terrific performances out there.”