Craig Brown
‘We have to be aware of the difficulty of this tie. We had a very difficult evening at Queen of the South last season away from home. There will be no complacency. We have to be properly focused against Morton or we win suffer the consequences. Having worked at that level before I have a lot of respect for the teams in that league. Morton are a team with a great tradition and a fight capacity so we will have a difficult game.
‘We are going there well aware of the difficulty of the fixture. Don’t think for one minute just because we had a reasonable result on Saturday away from home that it is automatic that we turn up and win this match. We know there is a lot of work to be done.
‘We did well at the weekend but that is past now. We have to try and build on that and if we are careless at all or lose concentration we could suffer the consequences. We have done that in the past against lower league opposition.
‘We want to maintain the good cup run we have got since Archie and myself arrived at the club. We have been in three of the last four semi finals and we would like to progress this year. We believe we are better than last season’s Aberdeen but only time will tell.
‘We may have to exclude Russell Anderson unfortunately. He has a cut right down the bridge of his noise and that is where he heads the ball. The cut could open up again and when that happens nowadays you need to leave the field. Even a big patch might not work so we might have to say to Russell to sit it out. He has played exceptionally well this season. Our two central defenders have been first class but we also now have Mark Reynolds who can step in.
‘Russell is the only major doubt. There is a slight problem with Jonny Hayes but hopefully he will be ok. We will see how Rory Fallon goes in training today. If he comes through that he could be involved. Niall McGinn will still miss a few more games.
Josh Magennis
‘We’ve got a good squad. Everyone’s fighting for their place so everyone’s on their toes. We’ve been playing well but all we’ve not done till last weekend is score goals.
‘As a professional you want to be playing every week and if you’re not in the team you’re not doing something right. The thing about Craig and Archie is that they’re brutally honest with you. They always tell you the truth so you always know where you stand. You can’t ask them why you’re not in the team because you already know.
‘I think we’re definitely one of the strongest teams in the SPL this season when you look at the squad at our disposal. The manager now has the confidence in the squad to rotate while knowing their won’t be a dip in quality.
‘In the last two seasons I’ve been here I’ve been to Hampden three times and that’s when we’d had injuries. We’re even more capable of reaching the final now with this squad.’
Greenock Morton v Aberdeen – 22.08.12 – 19.30 k.o
Register today to comment on this article and others!
Follow Vital Aberdeen on twitter.
Follow the Vital Aberdeen page on Facebook.
