Aberdeen boss Barry Robson paid tribute to his team after they took Rangers all the way in the Viaplay Cup final at Hampden today.

“The players gave us everything, that was clear. When you’ve got Rangers hanging in there at the end, kicking balls off the pitch it shows you what we tried to do. We want to come back and be in more finals.

“But that’s Rangers we’re playing, they’re a good side, with a good manager, capable of beating Real Betis in Spain in the week. It’s a proper team we’re playing against and Tavernier had that wee bit of quality to separate the teams. We gave it a go and I’m frustrated for the fans that we couldn’t get the ball over the line for them.

“Playing in Europe had no impact on the game, Rangers had the same on Thursday night. But the game as a whole might have had more spark from both teams if we hadn’t been playing the cup final on a Sunday after being in Europe on the Thursday.

“It was a tight game, a lot of emotion. I think first half we were structurally pretty good, they were scared of our transitions but we picked the wrong pass two or three times and missed the chance to cut them open.

“Second half we tried to have a go, tried to make positive changes to try and win the game but we just fell short. We could have been better with the ball today at times, we huffed and puffed a wee bit, I’m sure they’ll feel the same. It’s not easy with the emotion of a cup final.

“But we have to pick ourselves up now. We can’t have any hangover from this. We have to go and start winning games in the league, starting on Wednesday night.”