Captain Anthony Stewart insists Aberdeen’s recent confidence will not be derailed by a 4-1 hammering by Rangers.
The Reds went into the Ibrox clash on a high after three straight wins, but were brought crashing back to earth with a sobering loss.
With Aberdeen in form and Rangers under pressure after poor results, boss Jim Goodwin adopted an attacking 3-5-2 formation.
The 30-year-old skipper insists Goodwin was right to set up his team to go “toe to toe” with Rangers.
Centre-back Stewart says Aberdeen’s inability to maintain intensity after taking the lead through Connor Barron was their downfall.
And the skipper is determined the Dons will learn from the Ibrox nightmare and bounce back against Hibs at Pittodrie on Friday.
He said: “Nothing damages our confidence.
“It was frustrating as I felt we could go to Ibrox and go toe to toe with Rangers, but we fell short.
“We are a young squad and will learn from it and move on.
“Now we have Hibs who beat us earlier in the season so we have revenge to get.
“We also have a game in hand on Hibs.
“It is a massive game on Friday.”
‘I don’t think we were too bold’
Aberdeen took the lead in the 21st minute through midfielder Barron, his first senior goal for the club.
It was only the second game in the last eight visits to Ibrox Aberdeen have scored.
In the immediate aftermath of the Ibrox defeat, Goodwin said he would accept any criticism for ‘having a go’ and not ‘parking the bus on the 18-yard line’.
With Aberdeen in form and scoring freely prior to the Ibrox clash, Stewart reckons it was the right tactic.
He said: “I don’t think we were too bold.
“We approached it well and had the right game plan to go toe to toe.
“We didn’t go to Ibrox to sit in and let them dictate the game to us.
“Instead we tried to give it a right go.
“A lot of teams go to Ibrox and have lost the game before they have even started.
“We wanted to there and try to impose ourselves as we have been scoring goals this season.
“So there is no reason why we shouldn’t back ourselves going to Rangers.”
‘A goal shouldn’t have changed our mentality’
Aberdeen could only hold onto the lead for six minutes before Antonio Colak levelled.
The Reds suffered a further setback when conceding in first-half injury-time to a John Lundstram strike.
Stewart was disappointed Aberdeen stopped “getting in their faces” after going ahead.
He said: “Their intensity outdid us.
“A goal shouldn’t have changed our mentality or made us sit back any more in the game.
“We should have kept attacking and getting in their faces.
“In the first half, we got about them very well.
“However, we didn’t use the ball well enough in the second half and that was the changing part of the game.
“We defended a lot in the second half and conceded some poor goals.
“I feel our attackers will cause any team problems and you can see that by how many goals we have scored this season.
“We are confident in an attacking sense, but have to keep clean sheets.”
Aberdeen will face Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden on Sunday, January 16.
On the semi, Stewart said: “This defeat doesn’t affect that. What it does is gives us homework to do.”
Dons failed to exploit Gers fans anxiety
In the build up to the game, Aberdeen boss Goodwin had underlined his aim to get the Rangers fans anxiety to “creep on to the pitch”.
Rangers had been under increasing pressure having lost all five of their Champions League group games.
They were also booed off the pitch in their previous two domestic games against Livingston (1-1) and Championship Dundee (1-0 win).
Stewart said: “I felt we didn’t keep the ball well enough for the fans to fully turn as they felt they could always get back into the game.
“That’s where we sold ourselves short.
“We should have put our foot on the ball and kept it away from them so that their fans could turn on them.
“Unfortunately we didn’t manage the game well enough and conceded a goal just before half time.
“That kind of killed us.
“After conceding so close to half-time we had to come out chasing the game and the game got stretched.”
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