Graeme Shinnie: We can't make excuses, losing sloppy goals was recipe for disaster

Graeme Shinnie says Aberdeen can’t make any excuses for losing “really sloppy” goals as they suffered their first defeat under new boss Jimmy Thelin.

The Dons suffered a convincing 6-0 defeat to Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final on Saturday weeks after securing a 2-2 draw at Celtic Park in the league.

It was the first defeat for Aberdeen under new boss Thelin after Cameron Carter-Vickers opened the scoring at Hampden on the half-hour mark.

Kyogo made it two for Brendan Rodgers’ men before a Daizen Maeda hat-trick and a second-half strike from Nicolas Kuhn sealed a commanding win.

Captain Shinnie reckons losing “really sloppy” goals in the manner the Dons did made for a recipe for disaster at Hampden.

Shinnie said: “Celtic are a good team if you let them play to their strengths. Credit to them they played very well on the day.

“We just didn’t get going. I wouldn’t say that (game against Rangers taking too much out of Aberdeen). I wouldn’t make any excuses. We just didn’t get involved enough and that’s the reason.

“We didn’t make our mark or do enough to hurt them. The goals we lost were really sloppy. It was a bad day.

“When we don’t play well and they do, its a recipe for disaster. A massive learning curve for the squad.”

Goalscorer Kuhn reckons Celtic face a different prospect on Tuesday in the Champions League against RB Leipzig.

Kuhn said: “We learned our lesson from the league game, today we scored some good goals.

“We all knew we had to do better and the goal was to get into the final.

“The Champions League is a different thing, but we will give it our best. We’ll rest now and be ready for Tuesday.”

Maeda said: “It was a great atmosphere, great stadium, great fun.

“I really appreciate our work as a team, very thankful.

“We try to win all the domestic titles as a team, now we are one step closer going to the final.

“They are a good side but we wanted to show we are the better team and it was a very good performance.”