Graeme Shinnie says Aberdeen can continue to improve under Jimmy Thelin

Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie stressed they would keep their foot on the pedal ahead of the Hampden showdown with Celtic as he warned the rest of Scottish football they were still learning under Jimmy Thelin.

The Dons have won 15 matches and drawn once under the Swede and Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Celtic gives them the chance to emerge with the only unbeaten domestic record in Scottish football.

The feelgood factor among Dons fans went up a further notch on Wednesday when Rangers were beaten 2-1 at Pittodrie as Thelin’s side went nine points ahead of the Light Blues in the William Hill Premiership.

Like Thelin, Shinnie has been keen to stress they have achieved nothing yet but he believes the potential is there for the team to improve.

“We are in a good place so it’s about enjoying that but it’s also about keeping our foot on the pedal because nothing has been achieved,” he said.

“It’s about trying to continue what we are doing and trying to continue to get better. It’s still reasonably early in the manager’s era so we are still learning as we go and there’s still areas of our game that we need to get better at. We know that.

“It’s enjoying it while we are at it because winning games is enjoyable but on top of that it’s about keeping right on top of it and keeping our foot on the gas.

“There’s still big parts of games that we have to do better in. Wednesday night was the same. I thought, the end of the fist half and start of the second half we weren’t great in the game. So we are still learning bits and pieces and trying to get better every game.”

Aberdeen came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Celtic two weeks ago and will travel to Hampden in confident mood.

Shinnie said: “Looking at the game and how we did and what we need to be better, we are still early in the era under the manager and we are still learning. We can use these games to watch and learn but we can definitely take confidence from them.

“There’s a strong belief, and I think that comes from how we have performed recently, the run that we’re on.

“But we know the challenge at hand as well and that Celtic will confident as well. We will try to focus on ourselves and do the things that have done well for us this season.

“Anything can happen in a cup game, I know that over the years that I have played in the cups. We will be focused and ready to go and excited for it.”