Aberdeen boss Barry Robson was happy to silence doubters who were hoping for the Reds to suffer another cup upset.
The Dons edged out League One Stirling Albion 2-1 away to reach the Viaplay Cup quarter-finals.
Robson reckons many people wanted to see the Dons suffer more cup embarrassment.
Aberdeen crashed out of the Scottish Cup to sixth-tier Darvel in January.
Robson played a full-strength side to avoid any possibility of the club suffering another cup horror show to a lower-league side.
He fielded his strongest side, despite a Europa League play-off clash first leg tie with BK Hacken in Sweden looming on Thursday.
Aberdeen went ahead through goals from Bojan Miovski and Leighton Clarkson.
However, Stirling hit back with a goal in the 75th minute from substitute Greig Spence.
And Stirling were raging when they were denied a penalty in the final minute after Shayden Morris appeared to bring down Ross Davidson.
Robson said: “It was a difficult game for us and I knew it would be.
“This club has had bad cup results over the last couple of years and we didn’t want that to happen again.
“We managed to win the game, although everyone wanted us to lose as they wanted a cup upset.
“But we never let that happen as we showed a good mentality.
“It is cup football and I have seen so many upsets.
“Everyone wants an upset and I get that.
“It is the beauty of the game, but I’m just glad we dealt with it.
“We have had a few hard cup results at Aberdeen over the years, but we got through.”
‘A lot of positives and no injuries’
Aberdeen suffered a nervous finale to the cup tie but held on to book their place in the quarter-finals.
It was the Dons’ first competitive win of the season, after they had taken just one point from the opening two Premiership fixtures against Livingston (0-0) and Celtic (1-3 defeat).
Robson insists it should be remembered his new-look team, with nine new signings, are still gelling.
He said: “There were lots of positives and no injuries.
“Everyone should remember this is only our third game and we are trying to build a squad.
“We played against Celtic last week and nobody gave us real credit.
“That was a treble-winning team they had and we are building a whole new team.
“We are getting there and were sharp at times.
“There are things we can get better at, but we are in the next round.”
Robson praises lower-league Stirling
Last season’s League Two champions Stirling Albion came into Friday’s game with just one defeat in their previous 26 matches in all competitions.
They pushed Aberdeen hard, particularly in the second half.
Robson said “You have to give credit to Stirling as they were outstanding and gave everything.
“They were brilliant, every one of them.
“Stirling Albion have not lost a lot of games before this and they should be proud of how they played.”
When asked about Stirling’s late penalty claim, Robson said: “I couldn’t see it from where I was.”
MacDonald returns from injury
The cup tie marked the return from injury of centre-back Angus MacDonald.
Defender MacDonald had missed the four pre-season friendlies and two Premiership games with a knee injury.
He was introduced as a substitute in the 61st minute against Stirling.
Robson said: “It was good to have Angus back. We thought we could bring him on and he could calm us down a bit.
“And he did that.”
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