Graeme Shinnie 'desperate' for Aberdeen trophy success as skipper admits focus is on themselves not Celtic

Graeme Shinnie has admitted the Midas touch of Jimmy Thelin has even got him daring to dream of finally lifting a trophy as Aberdeen captain.

The gutsy midfielder will lead the Dons out at Hampden looking to continue their glory run by taking care of Celtic in Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final. Thelin has sparked a Reds revival that has seen them go 16 games undefeated and given them a real confidence that this could be a special season Shinnie, who lifted the Scottish Cup with Inverness, said: “Of course. I think everyone in football wants to win trophies.

“I’ve been lucky enough to do it once. I’d like to have done it again. But it’s tough. It’s tough to do. It’s very, very difficult to win trophies. But actually it’s something that I’m desperate to do.”

Aberdeen are neck and neck with Celtic at the top of the Premiership. They head to the national stadium on a high after beating Rangers on Wednesday and they also came back to get a draw against Brendan Rodgers’ side at Parkhead.

Shinnie insisted that Aberdeen will be focusing on themselves rather than Celtic. He stated: “If you focus on other things, then you take your eye off the ball. That’s when you can start making mistakes. What we’ve been good at is focusing on what we want to do and the way we want to play.”

Their unbeaten start has got Aberdeen being talked about as potential title contenders but Shinnie believes that is premature. He stated: “Of course. Everyone wants that in football. Right now, there’s no thought of lifting the league trophy. There’s no thought of that. If you ask me in April, start of May and we are where we are, then it may be a bit different.

“Right now, it’s a million miles away. If you start looking at that sort of thing,