Aberdeen hero Paul Hartley believes his side's 2-1 CIS Cup win against Falkirk proves they are mentally tougher than previous Dons teams that succumbed to lower league opposition in cup competitions.
Hartley cancelled out Mehdi Khalis' opener for the Bairns with a looping header before holding his nerve to score an injury time penalty to earn his side a place in the last four of the Co-operative Insurance Cup.
The Dons skipper said: "It has been stressed to me since I got here that being knocked out of cups by lower league teams simply isn't good enough. I think to have come back from a goal behind against Falkirk and against Raith Rovers in the previous round shows the togetherness and desire in this squad."
He added: "We were out of the cup at half-time and we got a bit of a rollicking at the break but I think the second half showed that we do have a lot of team spirit here. It has been a mental thing as, over the seasons, Aberdeen have folded in games like that but tonight we showed we have a bit of guts."
Hartley did not see the incident that led to the penalty when Bairns goalscorer Khalis was adjudged to have brought down Chris Maguire in the box but was delighted to score his seventh penalty of the season and his eighth goal in total.
He added: "Falkirk feel very aggrieved about the decision but in football sometimes decisions will go for you and sometimes they go against. The ref will take the blame but at the end of the day we had to score that penalty as the pressure was on us.
Falkirk manager Steven Pressley revealed the defeat came at an additional price with his side suffering a number of injuries ahead of their Irn-Bru First Division clash with Dundee on Saturday.
He added: "It was like a hospital ward in the dressing room after the game as there were so many injuries. Brian McLean didn't know the score in the second half or who he was so we were telling him that he was Bobby Moore!
"It was a dressing room full of injuries afterwards but it is a testament to the players that they wanted to stay on the park and battle through the pain. My only concern is we might be struggling to field a team for the weekend.
"It was a costly defeat in a financial sense and because of the injuries but I was very proud of how my players performed and disappointed for them with the way it ended."
Source: PA
