Jimmy Thelin wants Aberdeen to stay focused on league despite cup progress

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin insists his side must remain focused on their league campaign after booking their place in the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals.

The Dons were dominant from the start, and when Pape Habib Gueye fired home the opener after 14 minutes, there was a feeling Thelin’s men could score as many as they wanted.

But Spartans reacted well and it was the 44th minute before Kevin Nisbet turned home the second. Leighton Clarkson added a third a minute after the break and Ester Sokler capped the scoring with a close-range finish.

A smiling Thelin said: “Spartans did well, they have an experienced coach and they closed down the spaces well. We had to try to find different angles and ways to attack them.

“It was important to score the goals when we did to open the game up, but the most important thing for me is the last 10 minutes. We were 4-0 up and when we lost the ball everyone was sprinting to try to keep the clean sheet. We need to keep that hunger.

“With how we play we are trying to find different angles in our assists and how we attack the box, so it’s good to see the goals spread around the team. It shares the responsibility and helps us to keep winning games.”

Spartans boss Dougie Samuel was full of pride over his team’s performance, saying: “I think that you could see football is about levels tonight. I enjoyed watching Aberdeen play, but I’m immensely proud of my own players.

“When you lose an early goal in that level of game, in that setting and against a team that are absolutely flying, it would be quite easy for them to buckle and go under. Of course there’s going to be scary moments, but I thought we stuck together and kept playing.

“I have to say they had a lot of weapons that we don’t come up against week-to-week, so we were always under stress, but we didn’t give in, and all credit to them, they were fabulous tonight.”