Source: FOOTYMAD
No chance of losing to the Dons
It may have taken till the second half but there was only goingto be one winner at Hampden yesterday Charlie Mulgrew admitted the memory of the defeat by Ross County last year at the semi-final stage helped spur Celtic to the Scottish Cup final this time around. Defender Mulgrew was not at Parkhead at the time and is among eight of Sunday's Hampden starting line-up for the 4-0 semi-final win over Aberdeen who came to the club after the shock loss last April. But the centre-back, who opened the scoring four minutes after a goalless first half, said manager Neil Lennon had warned his players of the dangers of failing to rise to the occasion again. Mulgrew went on: "It was fresh in a few boys' minds and definitely the manager's. He made it clear to us not to make the same mistakes again, have no regrets, and I think we did that." Mulgrew scored his goal directly from an in-swinging free-kick and it came after 10-man Aberdeen had frustrated Celtic from the 18th-minute dismissal of Andrew Considine for bringing down Gary Hooper in the area. Jamie Langfield saved the resulting penalty from Anthony Stokes but Celtic stepped up a gear in the second half with Joe Ledley, Kris Commons and Shaun Maloney also scoring to confirm another meeting with Motherwell on 21 May. Mulgrew said: "Aberdeen started well, but they are always going to have spells in the game. It looked like a sending-off and it was up to us to keep focused again. It's massive for us, there are a lot of boys here who have not played in the final. Everyone is delighted, it's a big cup. From a personal point of view to get the goal and for us to win was brilliant. We will take care of the league first and hopefully we can win the final." Aberdeen manager Craig Brown admitted his team had been left with an "uphill task" following the red card. Considine was also sent off against Celtic in February when he conceded another penalty, which was also missed by Stokes. Brown said: "To play against the best passing team in the country a man short is very difficult. But you have to concede that Celtic were the better side."
