Jimmy Thelin says Kevin Nisbet ending barren run ‘good for him and good for us’

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin praised the resilience of Kevin Nisbet after the Scotland striker ended a lengthy wait for a goal by sealing a convincing Scottish Gas Scottish Cup win over Dunfermline.

Nisbet, whose only goal since November came over a month ago, hit the post with a golden chance but recovered to complete a 3-0 victory with a close-range tap-in late on that secured Aberdeen a place in the quarter-finals.

Pape Habib Gueye had headed Aberdeen in front on the stroke of half-time before Alexander Jensen made it 2-0 with a cool finish early in the second half as Aberdeen recorded only a second win in 16 matches – both victories coming in the cup.

“We are in the draw tomorrow now and we are looking forward to that,” said Thelin.

“It was an important game for us and we had to win. In the first half we saw some more directness in how we attack, the things we’ve been working on. It’s good to see some clear signs of how we want to look and this attacking approach.

“It’s always difficult but we got a clean sheet and three goals.

“Kevin has worked really hard the last few weeks in training and he’s getting sharper with every week. I could see in his smile after he scored that he was happy and relieved, so it’s good for him and good for us.”

Dunfermline boss Michael Tidser was pleased with the efforts of his players but admitted Gueye’s goal just before the break was crucial.

The Championship visitors looked set to have a chance to set up a nervy finale for Aberdeen at Pittodrie – where the Dons had not won since early November – when they were awarded a penalty in the 77th minute after Ephraim Yeboah went down under pressure from Alfie Dorrington and Jack MacKenzie. However, after a VAR review, referee Steven McLean adjudged the foul was outside the box, and from the free-kick Ewan Otoo’s effort was beaten away.

Tidser said: “I think the first goal is always important, especially with the crowd here. It’s not been a great run for Aberdeen and we wanted to keep it 0-0 as long as possible.

“The first goal kills us and then the second goal straight after half-time as well. But I must say, the lads showed loads of character after that and it’s just unfortunate that we’ve not got the goal to peg one back.

“It’s disappointing to lose the game, but the players showed enough to get back in the game as it would be easy to crumble and sit back, but we had a wee go.”