May the force be with us again, says Dons captain

SHINNIE CITES HAMPDEN GLORY

- BY SCOTT BURNS

GRAEME SHINNIE says Aberdeen must use their Scottish Cup final heroics as inspiration in their bid to beat Shakhtar Donetsk in tonight's Conference League opener.

The Dons defied the odds to stun Celtic last season by lifting the old trophy at Hampden.

It brought the Scottish Cup back to the Granite City for the first time in 35 years and paved the way for this continental crack.

The Dons, with just a solitary win in all competitions this season, are up against the big-spending Ukrainian league leaders who, in stark contrast, are unbeaten over 90 minutes in 15 league games.

The bookies, naturally, have Shakhtar as heavy odds-on favourites, while Aberdeen are as high as 5-1 to win at Pittodrie.

But the Dons were even bigger outsiders before they shattered Celtic’s treble dream back in May.

"Yes, this week will be similar," said captain Shinnie. "Not many people will have us as favourites this week, but I'm used to that.

"When I started out at Inverness we were underdogs most weeks and we enjoyed that.