2 weeks Ago
The Light Blues were reduced to 10 men after just 13 minutes of the quarter-final first-leg clash at Ibrox on Thursday when defender Robin Propper was sent off for a challenge on Inaki Williams. Goalkeeper Liam Kelly, who took over from the dropped Jack Butland, saved a 79th-minute spot-kick from Alex Berenguer before the Gers went down to nine men in added time when, with all the substitutes used, defender Dujon Sterling went off with an Achilles injury which requires surgery. Dodds paid tribute to the Gers players who put in almighty effort but believes preparations must be all about Pittodrie rather than the return match in Spain next Thursday, even though second-placed Rangers have almost no chance of preventing Celtic retain the William Hill Premiership title.
The former Rangers and Aberdeen striker said: "Heroic, I would say. It was amazing how we kept a clean sheet with nine players, obviously 10 players then down to nine. "We've been losing a few goals but it shows what can be done with hard work, graft, and a bit of organisation.
"The players were, and I'm not embarrassed to say it, heroic. "We put a lot into it, but we were going to have to put a lot into it to try and get a result. "We'll need to get a look at it, see who we've got and then we'll judge what to do on Sunday.
"It's a big game, always a tasty fixture so it's one we're looking forward to. "I swear, all we're concentrating on is Aberdeen, we're not even looking at next Thursday. "It would be naive, stupid to even look forward to Thursday.
We are just looking at Aberdeen now. "It's a famous fixture, one of the biggest on the calendar and I think if you're an Aberdeen or Rangers player, this is a fixture you look forward to. "At Pittodrie, probably a full house, it'll be some atmosphere so if you're not looking forward to that, there's something wrong.
"If you take your eyes off Aberdeen with the size of fixture it is, it would be naive and stupid and I stand by that.".
