Jimmy Thelin looks to shake his semi final hoodoo with Aberdeen as he hopes for 'extra bit of luck' in cup

Jimmy Thelin is desperate to see off Spartans in the hope it will be third time lucky when it comes to semi-finals.

The Aberdeen manager twice made it to the last four of the Svenska Cupen with Elfsborg but lost 1-0 in extra-time to IFK Gothenburg in the 2021-22 season and to Hammarby two years ago. Thelin is now possibly 90 minutes away from the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals, if his on-form side can see off the League Two shock troops at Pittodrie.

He said: “I remember how we lost the games. We were quite good in the league also in these years. The cup games, you also need that extra bit of luck or touch to get through to a final. I remember the Gothenburg game we were so good and created a lot of chances, but it was impossible for us to score. They had one shot, more or less, and it went in. That is football sometimes. In the cup you have to be sharp and ready.”

Thelin knows the cup in Sweden isn't as big as in Scotland. Aberdeen is looking to lift the League Cup for the first time since 2014. He explained: “It is not like in the UK, Scotland or Norway, where it is really big. In Sweden it is coming and growing. A title is always a title and you have to go for it and try. That is why we all keep doing it because we want to compete and to win something.”

The prize for the winners this weekend will be a visit to Hampden for the semi-finals and that is something that doesn’t happen in his homeland. He admitted: “No, before it was in Stockholm but then it depended if it was one team from the north and another from the south or it was two teams from the south.

“They make a draw between the two finalists for home advantage. The stadium is full but we don’t have one place to play like Norway, Ullevaal, where everybody goes