Aberdeen squad 'behind' Stephen Robinson after battling to semi-final with ten men

Stephen Robinson believes his squad are behind him after ten man Aberdeen overcame Kilmarnock on penalties to book a spot in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final.

The Dons boss had come under fire after a dispiriting run of four Scottish Premiership matches without a goal, but his side dug deep to earn a place in the last four where they will face Rangers at Hampden.

The away side overcame the 57th minute dismissal of defender Daniel Happe to defeat top-flight rivals Kilmarnock 3-1 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.

“I know that I’ve got the players behind me, I know that the players believe in what we’re doing,” said Robinson, who has struggled to win over supporters since his appointment at Pittodrie in March.

“It takes time, anybody that thought there was going to be an instant hit here is wrong. It will take two or three windows to get where we want to go to.

“Will we get the time to do that? Who knows, who knows in football? But I’ve got real belief in what I do. You don’t get 500 games if you’re not 100% sure about what you’re doing.

“I’ve proven that I can win football games. I want possession with a purpose, I want to play behind teams, I want to put loads of balls into the box, and it’s still getting everybody to adjust to that.

“You’re getting players from different backgrounds, boys that have played in League One, that perhaps haven’t played under this kind of pressure and expectation before, and it’s getting them to believe in what we want them to do, and that’s coming.”

Aberdeen took the lead through Kevin Nisbet in the 52nd minute, but they found themselves up against it soon afterward when Happe was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Joe Hugill and Tyreece John-Jules equalised from the resulting free-kick.

Killie, who sit bottom of the Premiership after a winless start in the league, lacked the quality to make their extra man count, and they were defeated in the shootout as John-Jules, Mark O’Hara and Aaron Tshibola all saw their penalties saved by Dons goalkeeper Marius Muller.

Under-fire boss Neil McCann was scathing of his players for not seizing the initiative on Saturday, but told them “they should be using that as complete fuel to go again on Tuesday night” when they visit Hibernian.

“They need to show they’re capable of recovering from that very, very quickly because we go to Hibs,” he said.

“Professional sport doesn’t allow you a lot of time to sit and wallow in your misery from a result like this.

“It’ll ask questions of you. Are you built strong enough to come back? I’ve charged them with that. I know I am, I know my staff are. And I expect them to recover and get ready for Hibs.”