Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson has praised Nesta Guinness-Walker for the bravery he showed in bouncing back from his difficult performance at Dundee.
The left-back struggled in the Premiership defeat at Dens Park but then made a full recovery and neutralised Joe Bevan in the Premier Sports Cup win over the Dark Blues.
Robinson believes Guinness-Walker demonstrated his qualities as he returned to the levels he has shown for most of his time at the club.
Robinson on Guinness-Walker's character
“Yes, that doesn't surprise me at all. He's a very good footballer and he proved he's a very good footballer. Also that he has, how do I put this in the press, he's very brave,” Robinson said.
“So when you've played poorly sometimes subconsciously, you can overthink it. He didn't. He believed in his ability. He was stronger than the boy.
“He was better than him on Saturday and he proved that he can deal with situations and deal with playing for Aberdeen Football Club, which is no easy task at times.”
The Dons can now look forward to a quarter-final clash with Kilmarnock.
Tony Yogane also responds
Tony Yogane was another who bounced back against Dundee. He was substituted at half-time in the league game but returned and made an impact in the Premiership against his former club. The winger set up Kevin Nisbet for his second goal.
Robinson said: “I got taken off after 15 minutes on my debut for Luton, if I remember right.
“So sometimes you have to make decisions as a manager. As I say, we've got a group of boys that respond to that. Tony said it's part of the journey. He's a young boy. He's 20 years of age, so we have to remember that.
“We're going to have ups and downs. and he responded really, really well, especially second half when he got a little bit more space and got up people.
“Very creative, sets a goal up and we're really pleased. We think he's a really good prospect, but there will be ups and downs as there is with all players.”
Transfer activity and squad size
Aberdeen have made 13 signings and there have been a number of exits to balance the books.
They let Peter Ambrose go to Neuchatel Xamax earlier this week and Dylan Lobban went on-loan to Dunfermline, following Dimitar Mitov’s move to St Pauli and the sale of Kjartan Mar Kjartansson to SK Brann.
Nicolas Milanovic, Topi Keskinen and Alexander Jensen have all been sold for decent fees.
The Dons are still looking to get more players out. They are still looking for new homes for Kusini Yengi and Ante Palaversa. There will need to be more departures before any more arrivals because they still need to cut the wage budget.
Robinson stated: “In terms of numbers-wise, we've still got too many players. It's come down a little bit.
“Whether that's players going on loan, whether we get them out permanently, it's too many players to manage. We knew that.
“The board have been fantastic with me in terms of allowing me to bring the players in before we got them out.
“But you can see now, Lutz has done a great job in terms of getting the money back in and moving players on.
“So that'll be continuing. I believe we've still three or four more to do on the way out.”
Aberdeen have a closed door game this week to keep them ticking over before the return against Rangers.
