Scottish Cup win would be perfect pick-me-up for Aberdeen's Graeme Shinnie

Graeme Shinnie says leading Aberdeen to William Hill Scottish Cup glory would be the perfect consolation prize after once again missing out on a Scotland call-up.

The Dons midfielder has inherited the captain's armband from Rangers target Ryan Jack and will lead the side out at Hampden on Saturday.

But his hopes of featuring for the national team at the same venue on June 10 when they host England have been dashed after he was overlooked by manager Gordon Strachan.

However, the 25-year-old is refusing to allow his spirits to dip ahead of facing Brendan Rodgers' Celtic and believes stopping the Hoops from wrapping up their treble chase would be just the tonic he is looking for.

“I've had to deal with this speculation over my place in the squad a lot,” admitted Shinnie. “I'm kind of used to it now.

“I never expect to get the call-up. There are a lot of people in my position, including the likes of Callum McGregor. He's had a great season again but has missed out.

“You can't complain, though, because the people in the squad are strong and deserve to be there.

“All I can do is keep trying to do as well as I can.

“There's more important things, such as winning the Scottish Cup, and that would give me more enjoyment.”

Shinnie is now hoping to get his hands on the oldest trophy in world football for the second time in three years.

He skippered former club Inverness to victory over Falkirk in 2015 and is desperate to sample that winning feeling all over again.

“Lifting the cup with Inverness was one of the best achievements of my career so far,” he said.

“To lift it with the team we had there was brilliant. Beating Celtic in the semis was a whirlwind but it was different in the final as we were going in as favourites against Falkirk.

“We ended up having a man sent off and they came back into it - but then James Vincent popped up to score the winner.

“You can't describe that feeling. If you could bottle it up and sell it you would make millions. It is one of the best feelings you can have. The celebrations that come with it were just brilliant.”

But Shinnie knows full well that his side will have their work cut-out if they are to halt Rodgers' rampant Parkhead outfit as they chase a domestic clean sweep.

He said: “It's a big task for us but one we know we can do.

“We can definitely take the positives out of the last time we played them at Pittodrie. Yes it was really disappointing to concede the three goals inside the first 11 minutes.

“We know that when you're against a side who has been unbeaten all season if you give them a three-goal head start then it's going to be a tough task.

“But our response after that was brilliant. We got the goal back and could have got another one through Jayden Stockley's header straight away.

“We had a good control of the game. Okay Celtic were 3-1 up so didn't have to come at us but that doesn't take anything away from how we played.

“We were also massively disappointed in how we played in the Betfred Cup final, so we want to rectify that. We need to put our stamp on the game as last time at Hampden we let Celtic do what they wanted.”

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