ABERDEEN teams throughout the ages have defined themselves on their ability to go to Glasgow and win.
So what better way to rationalise one disappointing day trip from the North East than to channel the experience into more productive ones in the future, all starting with a visit to Ibrox on Ladbrokes Premiership duty this Saturday?
Getting a cup final played before the end of November is all very well, but the losing team still has more than half a season's worth of fixtures to fulfil.
The match might not have panned out as they planned, but those same players who stood together when staring down Celtic's huddle at Hampden Park yesterday put on an equally united front in the mixed zone after the match.
While each was honest enough to express their disappointment about their failure to produce as they know they can - they have now lost three meetings to the Parkhead side by an 8-1 aggregate - they all hoped to use that Ibrox visit, in a match which could prove crucial to their hopes of finishing second, to get this one out of their system.
"I am gutted, absolutely devastated," said skipper Ryan Jack. "Celtic were very good on the day and we didn’t hit our heights as a team. We are disappointed but we will make sure we stick together. We will bounce back and be back. I’m sure for this club and for this team there will be many days like this in the future.
"I’m sure everyone will be asking how Aberdeen are going to react and how is their team going to be," he added. "Is everyone going to be together? Of course, we are. This is as tight a team and a group as I have ever been involved in. I have got no doubt that when we turn up at Ibrox at 3pm next Saturday we will be ready to play and ready to put things right."
Considering all the pre-amble and theatricals pre-match, Kenny McLean felt Aberdeen were in fact guilty of showing Celtic too much respect in the opening stages. He could perhaps personally been more pro-active to stop Jozo Simunovic from forcing the ball out wide to Tom Rogic for the opening goal.
"I don't think we started well at all," said the former St Mirren midfielder. "We showed Celtic a lot of respect, you could say too much. They kept the ball along the back and we just didn't put enough pressure on them high up, or show enough intensity earlier on and then the first goal went in.
"After the second goal, coming back against a team like Celtic was always going to be an uphill battle," he added. "But the way we started the second-half was encouraging. We came out, had a couple of half-chances, and were showing signs of maybe a comeback. After the penalty it was an uphill battle though.
"It is a big fight for second place in the league now but we feel we have plenty of quality in that changing room. We have got a good squad that can really do well this season and it is still early. We are in a decent position, with a game in hand on Rangers. It is going to be tight but I think we can definitely get up there.
"I think we need to switch to that pretty soon. This is fresh, it is going to take some time but the sooner we get over it the better and there is no better game to look forward to than Ibrox. I haven't been there in a while."
Despite the seven-goal margin over the three meetings between the club's this season, goalkeeper Joe Lewis said he had to believe that Aberdeen could still play catch up on Celtic. "You’ve got to believe that," said Lewis. "We’ve got to play them another two times. Today we didn’t show we were capable of that. But we know amongst ourselves that wasn’t a true Aberdeen performance, especially first half. We’ll look to improve and try to beat them next time we play them."
Talisman Adam Rooney said he felt for the 22,000 plus fans who made the journey to Hampden. But the fact of the matter was that Aberdeen were unable to create as many chances as they would have hoped, and didn't do enough to stop the Parkhead side from scoring at the other end. While James Maddison's quick feet caused a few problems early on, by the end Scott Brown largely had his way in midfield.
"The fans will be obviously be disappointed, we could have sold this place out ourselves," said the Irishman. “They put on a great display and lifted all the lads. So we’re disappointed not to have made it a closer game.
“Celtic have players who can hurt you all over the pitch, they have that bit of quality," he added. “On the day we had to limit their chances and we didn’t do that. And at the other end we weren’t clinical enough ourselves.
“But there are too many games for us to start feeling sorry for ourselves. So we have to take this on the chin and try and pick ourselves back up. We have the lads in the dressing room to do that. We need to get around each other now and go and have a good month."
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