Aberdeen midfielder Graeme Shinnie insists captain Anthony Stewart will receive the support of his team-mates following his game-defining red card in Sunday’s League Cup final semi-final defeat to Rangers.
Former Don Ryan Jack’s deflected goal cancelled out Bojan Miovski’s opener for Jim Goodwin’s side before Stewart was shown a straight red card for a heavy challenge on Rangers attacker Fashion Sakala in injury time.
Rangers made their extra man count as Kemar Roofe struck in the fourth minute of extra-time to secure a 2-1 win and book a final meeting with Celtic at Hampden next month.
Shinnie was quick to absolve his captain of blame for the loss and says his skipper retains the backing of his fellow players.
He said: “Anthony’s down, very down – but I told him how good a game he’d been having and not to let a moment of madness distract him from what’s to come.
“All we can do is support him. We win and lose as a team and he’s part of us.
“There’s no blame on him, it’s just what happens sometimes in football. As for what he said to us, that’s really not for me to say.”
Dons skipper’s departure was turning point
Former captain Shinnie, who has rejoined the club on loan from Wigan Athletic, knows Stewart’s dismissal was the turning point in the game but had sympathy for his team-mate.
He said: “It was a moment of rashness.
“I’ve seen it again and thought it might have been a yellow, but once the referee’s shown a straight red it isn’t going to be changed, because it isn’t a clear and obvious error.
“In games like this, with Anthony having such a good game, his confidence is high and he maybe thinks he can get the ball with a good tackle.
“But he’s mistimed it – there will be arguments, because some people will think it was and some that it wasn’t, but it had a big bearing on the result.
“The red card changes the game. Once we were down to ten, they had a lot more of the ball and it was harder for us to get up the park.
“That put the game in their favour. But we fought to the end and we still had chances. On another day, one of them might have gone in and we might have taken it to penalties.”
Dons must take positives from performance
Stewart’s departure compounded a challenging second half for the Dons who also lost the services of Duk and Leighton Clarkson at Hampden.
A heavy mess of a pitch did not help matters but Shinnie believes the players should be proud of their efforts.
He said: “Unfortunately we couldn’t nick that goal and just didn’t do enough in the end.
“After that it was about trying to get Matty Kennedy and Jonny Hayes on the ball, to get ourselves up the park and try to create something.
“We’d also lost Duk and Leighton Clarkson, which meant more changes and players coming into a semi-final needing to get up to the speed of the game really quickly.
“We’re all disappointed and it’s a tough way to lose such a big game, but we need to take the positives, because games are coming thick and fast.
“At our goal, Bojan Miovski’s offside, but he lets the ball run, Matty makes a run down the outside and maybe there’s a lapse in concentration from Rangers to let him in.
“Matty got the cross in, Bojan finished it well and it was exactly what we’d worked on – getting Leighton into spaces for balls in behind and at the point I felt like it was working.
“We’re away to Hearts on Wednesday, which is massive, so all we can do is go again.”
ANALYSIS: Aberdeen captain Anthony Stewart goes from hero to villain with Hampden moment of madness
