Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin determined to take things one game at a time

Boss Jimmy Thelin insists Aberdeen will look ahead with confidence to the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals regardless of who the draw pits them against.

First-half goals from Pape Habib Gueye and Kevin Nisbet gave the Dons a strong footing as they faced League Two side The Spartans, with Leighton Clarkson and Ester Sokler also finding the net in a dominant display at Pittodrie.

The win extended Thelin’s 100 per cent record with the Dons to 11 games, and while he continues to pursue a philosophy of taking each game as it comes, he said “Of course we want to go to Hampden and play there, and we will be excited to see the draw.

“It’s nice to secure this spot in the semi-final, but all energy to the next game in the league.

“You always have to believe in yourself, but you have to stay humble. Let’s see for the draw and then we will go with all we can in the semi-final, but for now, let’s focus on the league.

“Right now we have to stay focused on the league games because we have to take it game-by-game as we need to put all energy into every game.

“We have three competitions and we want to go far in every one, but still game-by-game all the time. We should have ambition but we have to be good ourselves, and focus on that.”

Spartans manager Dougie Samuel was full of praise for the way Aberdeen approached the game, but is keen to continue his side’s progress since joining the SPFL ranks just last season.

“I feel an immense pride seeing a few hundred Spartans fans here at Pittodrie, and I hope if we can keep performing as we’ve done in recent times, that number can increase when we go elsewhere.

“We want to establish ourselves as an SPFL club – it’s only our second season. That means being competitive in League Two, trying to win promotion. League Two is very, very difficult. Every game is extremely difficult and very different to what we faced tonight.”