Jimmy Thelin on the Sir Alex Ferguson meeting that helped him get over Aberdeen's Hampden day to forget

Jimmy Thelin revealed meeting Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United helped him get over Aberdeen’s Premier Sports Cup thrashing.

The Dons were brought crashing down to earth as the clinical Celtic hit them for six in the semi-final to end their unbeaten start. Thelin headed to Old Trafford to watch United face Chelsea the following day after Dons chairman Dave Cormack arranged it. Thelin said: “Dave, our chairman, knows Sir Alex really well and Sir Alex invited us. It was actually planned some weeks ago but it was a good to have this focus the day after the game, to clear the head a little bit and then move on.”

October manager of the month Thelin came in for some criticism for not changing his side after the midweek win over Rangers. But he insists his players will need to get used to that sort of schedule because he wants them playing European football. The Swede said: “In the future we can hopefully be so strong that we can compete in Europe and then it’s not going to be a free midweek every week for a long time.

“For us, it’s to try to bring that quality so we can reach a position where we can play in Europe next season. But we still know we have a lot of things to do to grow as a club.”

Meanwhile, Dons star Jack MacKenzie admitted the bus journey home from Hampden last Saturday was a sobering affair. But he is confident the team remains on the right road under Thelin.

Aberdeen remain second top of the Premiership and will look to keep their unbeaten start in the league when Dundee on Saturday night. MacKenzie said: “It was a long journey back up the road because it was a tough one to take.

“There was no getting away from it, Celtic were good on the day but we were not good enough at all. We didn’t impose ourselves