NIALL MCGINN says that Aberdeen have to be given an even split of tickets for the Betfred Cup final, despite failing to sell out their allocation for their semi-final win over Rangers on Sunday.

Around 11,000 Aberdeen supporters made the trip to Glasgow to see a Lewis Ferguson header set up yet another final showdown with Celtic, after the sides clashed in both major finals in the 2016/17 season.

On those occasions, the Pittodrie club’s Red Army snapped up their full allocation of briefs, and McGinn believes that they deserve the chance to sell out 50% of the stadium once more at what is, after all, a neutral venue.

“It has to be,” said McGinn. “We have shown in the past, the last time we played Celtic in the Scottish Cup final we filled half the stadium. And when we won the League Cup we took over 40,000 to Celtic Park when we played Inverness.

“Finals should always be half and half, no matter who the teams are. We know that we are a big club and we know that we are definitely capable of bringing 25,000 fans to the final.”

McGinn feels that criticism of Aberdeen’s stay-away supporters for Sunday’s famous victory was unfair, and he thanked those that did come along for helping to push them over the line and into the final.

“As players it’s not something we can do too much about,” he said. “We just have to get on with it. It’s always nice to have a big support but last season Motherwell were outnumbered against Rangers in the Betfred Cup semi-finals and won 2-0.

“Regardless of the numbers we still heard our fans sing today and that pushed us on. The Rangers fans got a bit anxious towards the end and that was a positive for us. We kept their fans quiet and we could hear our fans singing. And thankfully we won so it’s happy days.”

Happy days indeed, particularly for goalscoring hero Ferguson. His teammate Mikey Devlin watched him come through the ranks at Hamilton before joining him at Pittodrie, and the centre-half believes that his young colleague has a huge future in the game.

“Fergie’s made a massive impact since he joined the club,” Devlin said. “Given his age as well, he’s full of potential and to handle an occasion like that [on Sunday] at 19 is something special.

“I think we all saw that at Hamilton. He was capable of that and credit to the guys there. George Cairns, the head of youth at Hamilton, instils that mentality in them coming through and that’s what is serving Fergie well right now, playing week in and week out.

“Obviously, Aberdeen have taken that on and developed it further. Playing in big games week in week out is fantastic for him.”

Devlin and Ferguson will welcome their old Hamilton teammates to Pittodrie tomorrow night as attention turns back towards league duty, with Aberdeen hoping to carry their cup form into the Premiership after a slow start to the season.

“I’m looking forward to that,” he said. “When the fixtures came out that was the one I looked for.

“I’m looking forward to going up against them. They’ve made a lot of signings and a lot new of new faces. But the likes of Dazzler [Darian MacKinnon], wee Dougie [Imrie] and a few of the other faces there, I’ll be looking forward to see them.

“But as soon as the whistle goes I’ll put it out my mind for 90 minutes.”