Jim Goodwin bigs up his cup record as Aberdeen boss makes 8-year drought demand

Jim Goodwin insists Aberdeen must start making days out at Hampden the norm by taking another step on Wednesday night towards ending an eight-year wait for a major trophy.

The visit of Partick Thistle is an opportunity to book a last four spot at the national stadium in the Premier Sports Cup which brought the club their last success in 2014 with a final win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle. It’s that lack of achievement for the Reds in recent years which have starved the fans from enjoying glory trips to Glasgow which is driving Goodwin’s ambition to make Mount Florida a regular destination.

The Aberdeen boss said: “A club like Aberdeen with the resources available, with the history, the depth of the supporters and everything else which goes with it, we should be aiming for semi-finals as the minimum. When you get to that stage of the competition then anything can happen.

“I’ve always done relatively well during my short period as a manager in terms of going far in these competitions. I took St Mirren into the semi-final of this competition and the Scottish Cup and I want to do the same with Aberdeen.

“I want to take Aberdeen, the supporters, the club and this new group of players, where a lot of them haven’t experienced anything like that, I want to give them that experience as well.

“We are all desperate to get to Hampden and to get into that semi-final and to hopefully put ourselves into a situation where we can go and win some silverware because it’s been too long since that last happened here.

“Clubs like Aberdeen and Hearts and Hibs and Dundee United, they are pretty big teams in terms of the history of the Scottish game and there is a generation of supporters of those clubs – and Celtic and Rangers too - who