Ryan Jack: Aberdeen aim to grab second chance against Celtic in Scottish Cup final

Aberdeen captain Ryan Jack wants to avoid more cup final disappointment against Celtic

Ryan Jack says Aberdeen will use their Scottish League Cup final loss to Celtic as motivation when the sides meet again in the Scottish Cup final.

Celtic won 3-0 at Hampden in November and Jack admits the prospect of lifting a trophy is driving him on to avoid a repeat of that experience.

"I want to be standing there holding a cup," the Aberdeen captain said.

"The League Cup [was] disappointing, but we have another chance [that] we will try and grab with both hands."

Following Aberdeen's 3-2 win over Hibernian in Saturday's Scottish Cup semi-final, Jack said he feels "no embarrassment" in talking about his dream of lifting a cup as Aberdeen captain.

The 25-year-old believes the team will finish the season strongly as they look to secure the runners-up spot in the Premiership and victory in the Scottish Cup final.

"In previous seasons when we have not got to the Scottish Cup final but have claimed second spot, we have maybe not finished the campaign the way we should have done," Jack said in an interview with Aberdeen's RedTV.

"We have not performed in the post-split fixtures.

"You saw from the first-half performance there will be no letting up from us this season and we need to produce more performances like that. It will be all hands to the pump and everyone in the squad will have to do their bit over the coming weeks.

"We now have a cup final to look forward to but we can put that in the back of our minds for now. We have got to go and cement second spot.

"There is no better way of taking a big step towards doing that than by beating St Johnstone in front of our own fans on Saturday."

'The game plan was spot on'

Jack, who is out of contract in the summer, revealed that Aberdeen's bright start in the semi-final was the result of pre-match planning. Hibs' John McGinn was robbed of possession from kick-off, allowing Adam Rooney to score within 12 seconds of the game starting.

"We had watched their kick-off on the video and we knew John McGinn would try and go forward," Jack said.

"As soon as they took kick off you saw myself, Rooney and [Graeme] Shinnie going straight in. We won the break of the ball before they give it away and Rooney then does what he does best, he puts the ball in the net.

"In the first half we were excellent. The game-plan was spot on. We were pressing them in midfield, we were pressing them well up top and we were creating chances.

"What we had worked on all week in training was being implemented in the game."