Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie describes his last meeting against Kilmarnock as one of the toughest days of his career – but a defeat in this afternoon’s Scottish Cup quarter-final would be even worse.
The 26-year-old returns to the Dons squad after missing the 2-0 defeats by Celtic and Hibernian through suspension.
The Dons won 3-1 when Killie visited Pittodrie on January 27 but it was a difficult 90 minutes for Shinnie. He said: “The last time we played Killie was one of the worst days of my career.
“I was ill the whole day on the Friday so was sent home from training because there was a sickness bug going around the place.
“I shouldn’t have played but I said on the Friday night that I was available.
“I don’t know why I did it but that’s just me, I can’t say no and tried to battle my way through it.
“So I shouldn’t really have been involved and it was a struggle, but thankfully we were able to come out with the win.
“But it was really tough that day and Killie showed us what we can expect again this weekend.
“We were slack in the first half when they were up there and the manager gave us a good team talk at half-time.
“Our standards hadn’t been good enough and we were letting ourselves down, so he pointed that out to everyone.
“That fired us up and we played well in the second half and, of course, Scott McKenna scored that wondergoal.
“But that was a lesson to us, we have to make sure we don’t give them a chance because they are more than capable of taking it.
“It’s vitally important to get the first goal at this level so if we give it to Kilmarnock it will only make them even more confident.”
Shinnie, who could be deployed at left back with Andrew Considine missing the cup tie due to ban, won the Scottish Cup during his time at Caley Thistle and would love to do the same as captain of his hometown team.
He said: “We always plan on trying to do as well as we can in the cups and we are one game away from going to Hampden now.
“But it will be tough because Kilmarnock come here in good form and their confidence is sky high.
“Steve Clarke has them playing good football and picking up results.
“The difference in them is confidence, that’s a massive thing in football.
“We have played Ross County a few times this year and you can sense their confidence isn’t great, but Killie are on the opposite side from that.
“They are flying high, everyone wants the ball and is prepared to try things. You can see the confidence flowing through them.
“Jordan Jones’ goal recent was a prime example of that, that’s someone whose confidence is sky high.
“We will have to make sure our performance is right up to standard if we’re going to get through.”