Jack MacKenzie: Aberdeen will take some much-needed confidence into semi-final

Jack MacKenzie believes Aberdeen will take major confidence from their win at Motherwell ahead of Saturday’s Hampden trip after feeling the pressure before the Fir Park clash.

The Dons travelled to Lanarkshire on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Kilmarnock and four-game run without a win.

But they never looked back after Jamie McGrath’s 26th-minute opener and were four goals up before the home side scored two late consolations.

The win moved Barry Robson’s side into the cinch Premiership’s top six and lifted spirits ahead of their Viaplay Cup semi-final against Hibernian.

Wing-back MacKenzie said: “For about 80 minutes we were really good, then got sloppy at the end, conceding the two goals. But the most important thing was getting the three points from a tough place.

“We obviously knew our situation in the league, so we had to win this game and move ourselves up the table.

“We knew there was a lot of criticism off the back of the weekend and looking at our league position, sitting in 11th, we knew we had to perform. Credit to the boys – we all performed well and got our rewards.

“We didn’t want to be going into the semi-final on the back of three defeats, so we will take some confidence from Wednesday into that game.”

The Dons have been used to playing in big matches this season given their European duties.

MacKenzie said: “We’ve played against a lot of top teams already, and Hibs are another top team so we’ll be ready for it.

“It will be tightly contested. Hibs are a really good side and have improved a lot under their new manager. We know it will be a really tough game but one that both teams can win, so I’m sure it will be a good spectacle.

“We need to start the game on Saturday as we did at Motherwell. Otherwise, you can find yourself a couple of goals down and that is very difficult to come back from. So we need to start the game as fast as we can.”