The fate of Aberdeen’s season will be decided on Saturday afternoon at the national stadium – when the Dons meet Hearts in their Scottish Cup semi-final.
Win against Hearts, and Aberdeen should get the momentum, and the incentive, needed to see out the Premiership campaign in a positive manner – having a Scottish Cup final to look forward to, with places in the team up for grabs, is a highly-motivating factor.
Lose the semi, and the last month of the league race could be a painful struggle.
With Hibernian now favourites to finish third, and on an incredible unbeaten run, it might be that booking a Hampden return is the most likely route for Aberdeen to guarantee group stage European football next season.
Aberdeen will need to beat Hearts then Celtic for Scottish Cup glory
That, of course, will not be easy.
Even if Aberdeen see off Hearts, Celtic will almost certainly stand in their way, and the Glasgow side have a phenomenal record in the Scottish Cup – and in finals, generally.
Only Rangers – twice – have beaten Celtic in a Scottish Cup final since Aberdeen won that famous penalty shoot-out in 1990.
In the League Cup, other than their Ibrox rivals, only Kilmarnock have prevailed over them since the Dons lifted the trophy in November 1976.
Brendan Rodgers has taken charge of 20 Scottish Cup ties during his two spells as Celtic gaffer… and won every one.
They might be more vulnerable in a semi-final, and St Johnstone did beat them at McDiarmid recently, but Sunday is a very different set of circumstances, and with another treble on the line, I cannot envisage Celtic slipping-up.
Aberdeen need to take first half v Rangers showing to wounded Hearts
The task for Jimmy Thelin and his squad is to ensure Aberdeen also make it through, and it will not be an easy one – despite Hearts reeling from the disappointment of missing out on the top six.
That was an unforgiveable outcome for Neil Critchley and the capital club.
Given the money they have spent, the resources at their disposal, there is no way they should be scrabbling around with the relegation candidates during the run-in.
There will be a burning desire to try to at least partly alleviate their embarrassment by reaching the final.
If the Dons play as they did first half against Rangers, they will be in with a real chance, but if we see a repeat of the showing after the interval, the defensive lapses and poor concentration, then I fear more Hampden heartbreak.
They were not helped by the substitutions Jimmy made, changes which weakened the side and left us baffled in the commentary box, and if the team finds itself similarly in control this afternoon, better game management will be needed to see it out.
Overall, the form has been better in the past couple of months – just one loss in 10 – but there is still a fragility there, and that is something Hearts will look to capitalise on.
Whether they have what it takes to do so remains open to question.
No wins in three without a goal scored is hardly the form you want to take into a game of this magnitude, and if Aberdeen start the game with intent and positivity, I would expect them to keep the Scottish Cup dream alive.
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