Mackie vows to repay Dons faithful

Aberdeen hero Darren Mackie is determined to reach the Scottish Cup final in May to appease the fans who were left flat after the CIS Insurance Cup semi-final capitulation to Dundee United.

The 26-year-old Mackie, whose season has been blighted by injury, scored only his second goal of the campaign to give the Dons a shock quarter-final replay win over Celtic at Parkhead last night.

Aberdeen will face Irn-Bru First Division side Queen of the South in the semi-final, the Dons’ first appearance in that stage of the competition in eight years, with the winners meeting Rangers or St Johnstone in the Hampden final.

Jimmy Calderwood’s men forfeited the chance to reach the CIS Cup final when they lost 4-1 against the Tannadice side at Tynecastle last month.

Mackie is desperate to make amends in the Scottish Cup semi-final, which will be played on the weekend of April 12-13.

“It was a massive result for us and the fans,” Mackie said.

“It was always going to be tough at Parkhead and Celtic had a lot of chances but we got the goal.

“We wanted to give the fans something to cheer about.

“It was only my second goal of the season but it was an important one.

“We didn’t play well against Dundee United that night but now we have the chance to put it right and it’s something that we look forward to.

“We know it’s going to be tough against Queen of the South but we have a big chance.”

Mackie insists he always felt confident of progressing in the competition despite Celtic grabbing a last-gasp goal in the first game at Pittodrie through Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to take the game back to Glasgow.

The Dons striker said: “They snatched it away from us in the first game with the last kick of the ball.

“It was hard to take because we thought we were through.

“We were down after that game but we fought well against Celtic and we’re through.”

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan was left ruing a series of missed opportunities by his players in a game which they dominated from start to finish.

“We had enough chances but we are not at our sharpest in front of goal but we will keep working at it,” the Hoops boss said.

“We ask the team to restrict the other side from making chances and we did that and we ask the players to create chances and nobody can deny that we created chances. You can’t ask for more than that.

“It’s just that bit at the end and it’s down to the players. There is nothing we can do about it apart from working hard in training.”