Killian Phillips spared Celtic penalty shootout pain blame as Aberdeen stars rally around crestfallen spot kick sinner

Connor Barron insists nobody in the Aberdeen squad is pointing the finger of blame at crestfallen Killian Phillips.

The Republic of Ireland under-21 cap saw his spot kick saved in the shootout by Joe Hart to book Celtic’s place in the Scottish Cup final. Barron knows Phillips will be feeling it but Barron has claimed his Dons' team mates will get round him and make sure he comes through this heartbreaking experience and is even stronger.

The Aberdeen midfielder said: “That is football. It is hard at times. We have to get around him. Everybody misses a penalty in their career, it is just the way it goes. You need a bit of luck. Killian was that man who missed the penalty. It is not down to him. As the full team we take responsibility. We are proud of ourselves but just wish we had taken that step closer.”

Hampden has often left a hollow feeling for Aberdeen but they went there and gave their all. Barron knows they ran Celtic all the way and the tie could have easily gone their way.

The 21-year-old admitted: “It is difficult the way it ended, on penalties. “We took them all the way. We had chances and could have won the game and maybe wouldn’t have needed the extra-time.

“The boys gave everything and they should be proud of themselves. “We ran a very good team right to the end. “The feeling in here is we are gutted.

“We are gutted because we felt we should have won that game. To come away with a feeling like that against a team like that shows this team can go a long way. It is just unfortunate in the league that we haven’t quite had that. On Saturday, in the semi-final I thought the boys were absolutely brilliant.”

Barron praised interim boss Peter Leven for getting his tactics spot on. He said: “We know they are a top