TONY Docherty beamed with pride when Gordon Strachan invited him to join his Scotland backroom staff for the upcoming friendly against Canada and for the World Cup qualifier against Slovenia at Hampden later this month.
But while that honour fills him with pride, the Aberdeen assistant manager has more pressing matters to consider, with the visit of Partick Thistle to Pittodrie for the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final tomorrow up next.
That Aberdeen are without three of their leading players – captain Ryan Jack, defender Mark Reynolds and winger Jonny Hayes, arguably their best player – is of concern to the Pittodrie side.
Docherty, a decade as Derek McInnes’s assistant at St Johnstone, Bristol City and now Aberdeen, addressed tomorrow’s tie, but only after expressing his delight at being recognised by Strachan.
“After the Kilmarnock game at Rugby Park two weeks ago, Derek had mentioned to me that Gordon Strachan had been in touch to ask if it was okay to let me go.
“I'm a big Scotland supporter. I love going to games. I think it's hard to beat the Hampden atmosphere. Hopefully, that will be the case this time and we convert that into a win and kick on in the World Cup group again.
“I usually go to games with my old man. He'll now go with my brother Vince who’ll get my ticket. My dad was proud. He said, 'Good on you, well done, you've worked hard. Now go and enjoy it and get a win'.”
Docherty accepts that it’s a major blow to McInnes's side to be without three important players against a resurgent Partick Thistle, a team he rates highly, especially as they are showing particularly good defensive prowess at the moment.
It has been 17 years since Aberdeen last reached the final of this competition, when Rangers mauled them 4-0 with striker Robbie Winters a stand-in keeper for Ebbe Skovdahl’s Aberdeen side after Jim Leighton was stretchered off in the third minute.
Meanwhile, Andrew Considine insists the arrival of Graeme Shinnie 18 months ago had caused him to doubt his future at Pittodrie, but insists the competition the Scotland Under-21 cap has provided has made him a better player.
"I think most people thought I was done when Graeme came in,” Considine said. “I've had the vibe before that managers have brought players in to replace me, and he was probably the biggest one.
"It was a huge challenge for me – the biggest one I'd faced – but I've seen plenty of players come in at left-back and centre half.
"I do think that this time, though, most folk expected it to be a struggle for me to stay in the team. But it's down to having the right attitude and wanting to succeed in the game.
"You've seen boys in the past who have thrown in the towel under those circumstances and before you know it they're out the door and playing in the lower leagues.”
Now Considine hopes that Docherty’s promotion to international level will spark renewed interest by Strachan in Aberdeen’s Scottish players.
"The lads have been playing very well this year,” he said. “So you'd like to think they'd get recognition. But I often think that if you're not playing for Celtic, Rangers or down in England then you get overlooked.
"That's a shame because there are a lot of good Scottish defenders out there but just because they haven't played in England they don't get call.
"But Scottish football is a very good standard and if you're not going to give chances to these boys then how will you know they can't handle it.”
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