Stephen Glass was encouraged by his front players after succeeding in his first match as Aberdeen manager.
Niall McGinn, given a central attacking role, scored his first Aberdeen goal since November and then set up Florian Kamberi to get off the mark for the club as Glass enjoyed a penalty shoot-out win after a 2-2 Scottish Cup draw with Livingston.
It was the first time Aberdeen had scored more than one goal since January 23, although their second came in extra time.
On Kamberi, who replaced Fraser Hornby around the hour mark, Glass said: "Flo was excellent.
"We didn't put him in as a centre-forward, we played him off the side a bit. So we changed it a bit to get the best out of Flo and be a threat to them.
"And to be fair, Flo's performance was brilliant. Considering he came off at half-time last week, it would have been easy to start sulking for any player but he showed a determination to be a big part of the group."
Glass had encouraged his team to get the ball into McGinn's feet at half-time.
"He produced a wonderful finish and some great feet for Flo's finish," Glass added. "Flo was involved in the move as well and kept going, which is something (assistant manager) Allan (Russell) has been working on."
Aberdeen will host Dundee United in the quarter-finals but first welcome Celtic to Pittodrie in the Scottish Premiership.
"We will need to regroup and go on Wednesday night because it's an important game for us," Glass said. "We have to try and close the gap on the team above us and then we will start preparing for the weekend.
"It was almost vital that the club was in that round of the cup because we came in and there's a bit of a feelgood around the place and I think we have harnessed that energy a little bit.
"The players have really shown what it means to them. Otherwise, if that's a group of players that have not bought into everything that's going on, we would have been out the cup.
"But they showed energy, they showed trust, they showed belief in the structure and I'm just so happy that they got their rewards."
Livingston now face Hibernian in the league as they look to at least seal fifth spot – which might be enough to get them into Europe, assuming they iron out UEFA licence issues.
But manager David Martindale has warned they need to work hard to ensure they do not suffer a difficult season finale which could have lasting effects.
"It's really, really difficult when you get top six," he said. "I remember we missed out on our first season up and Hearts got top six and I remember thinking they were going to struggle.
"You can go in and lose your five games and go into the next season with an overhang. So it's going to be extremely difficult."
