McGhee relieved to avoid cup shock

Aberdeen boss Mark McGhee was relieved to avoid another painful cup exit at the hands of Irn-Bru First Division side Raith Rovers. The Dons came from 2-1 down to defeat the plucky Fifers thanks to Scott Vernon's second-half double in the Co-operative Insurance Cup.The Dons boss had described last season's humiliating fifth-round replay defeat to the First Division side in the Active Nations Cup back in February as the lowest point in his managerial career and was delighted to avoid another embarrassing cup exit.He said: "We set ourselves up really nicely at half-time to exorcise the demons of before by putting ourselves unnecessarily in that position. To come back from 2-1 down in those circumstances shows that we have moved on as last year I don't think we would have been able to do that."I thought Raith Rovers were excellent and made life very difficult for us. Their work-rate was first class and every one of their set-pieces put us under pressure. That being said I think we have to be pleased to come out on top."McGhee admitted he had stern words for his players during the break after a complacent first 45 minutes."There was blood on the walls at half-time!" the Dons manager joked."We lost two goals that were our own doing. The pressure of Raith Rovers in chasing everything down contributed to that but I think we didn't have to concede either of the goals."Jerel Ifil and Jamie Langfield both could have done better. At half-time we told the players in no uncertain terms that we had to be more competitive in the second half and I think we were and eventually got the result we deserved."Raith Rovers manager John McGlynn said he was proud of his players, despite the defeat."The players gave everything for us," he said. "We have to take all the positives we can from how we played and competed with Aberdeen."We went behind to an early goal but we passed the ball around well and created a way back into the game."I thought we deserved to go in ahead at the break. Had Laurie Ellis scored a third for us early in the second half it could have been a different story."We are disappointed with the result but I can't fault my players for their efforts."

Source: Team_Talk