ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes was left to rue his gamble in starting Sam Cosgrove against Celtic after it failed to come off in the defeat at Hampden.

McInnes gave his star striker his first start of the season after his recovery from injury, and he spurned two early opportunities and one in the second half that the Aberdeen manager felt he might have taken had he had more match sharpness.

But the Dons boss doesn’t regret taking the game to Celtic despite the 2-0 defeat.

“I think it was a gamble starting Sam,” McInnes said. “We thought with Matty Kennedy playing, Jonny (Hayes) due to play initially, and the other players we had in the wider areas [it would be a gamble worth taking].

“When (Moi) Elyounoussi and (Ryan) Christie work off their shape, we knew they wouldn’t protect their full-backs as much at times. So if you can get your ball carriers in the wider areas on the pitch, we thought there would be moments to get crosses into the box.

“That played out for us. We just never scored. I think Sam had three chances – two headers and a left-footed shot. He’ll be better for having had the game. He’s a positive for having played the minutes.

“Of course it was a gamble but what I didn’t want to do was wait until we were one or two goals down and then through Sam on. That’s too little too late.

“We’ve come here before and maybe not been as positive in our approach. But we tried to be the team that we’ve been of late.

“I thought there were enough encouraging signs last week that Sam could cause problem with the ball in the box. That was the case today.

“He’d three chances but didn’t take any of them but that wasn’t for the want of trying.

“We tried to do the right thing.”

McInnes has urged his men to shake off their disappointment at the cup exit quickly for the league visit of Hibernian on Friday night.

“It’s important that we concentrate on league business and knuckle down,” he said.

“We’ve got too many important games. We know teams can’t have a hangover when they’ve had a real disappointment.

“We’ve got to come out fighting again and be the team we want to be this season.”