Aberdeen have endured a roller coaster of a season so far but skipper Graeme Shinnie hopes their Hampden triumph over Rangers will now send the Dons riding up the Ladbrokes Premiership table.
Derek McInnes’ men booked their place in the Betfred Cup final on December 2 after edging past their Ibrox rivals on Sunday.
It was a rare moment of joy for the Pittodrie side, who have only managed to string back-to-back wins together once this term and currently languish in seventh spot, 11 points behind leaders Hearts.
But Shinnie feels the 1-0 triumph over Steven Gerrard’s team could finally provide the spark they need to rediscover the consistency that had seen them finish as runners-up to Celtic four years in a row.
The Dons are back in action on Wednesday when they host Hamilton and Shinnie told Press Association Sport: “Hopefully this is the type of win that can give us that bit of momentum.
“It’s up to us to use the result as a springboard. We’ve got a game coming up on Wednesday and the confidence will be high.
“Now we want to build on Sunday, get another win, keep the momentum going and start climbing the table.
“Has confidence been an issue this season? Yeah maybe. It’s been a bit of a stop-start season in many ways. We’ve had some good games and some bad games.
“On Sunday, we didn’t necessarily play great but we came away with the win and it’s been probably our biggest result of the season so far.
“At Celtic Park a few weeks back we played well but came away with nothing. Now we just need to get back into the roll of winning games and putting points on the board.”
Lewis Ferguson is set to face his old club for the first time since swapping the Hope Stadium for Pittodrie during the summer.
The former Accies academy graduate headed the winner against Rangers on Sunday to sink a side previously served by both his dad Derek and uncle Barry.
But Shinnie expects the 19-year-old to shine even brighter for the Reds after his Hampden heroics.
“Fergie has been great since he came in,” said the Dons captain. “His work-rate and his willingness to learn and get better has impressive.
“He’s a young boy but he has scored that goal at Burnley and now the one on Sunday, and turning up in such big games like he has will only do his confidence levels good.”
