Jimmy Thelin was delighted to see Aberdeen keep up their winning habit in cup competitions.
The Dons eased past Morton 3-0 at Cappielow to reach the last eight of the Premier Sports Cup.
Sivert Heltne Nilsen headed home the opener after 32 minutes and Kusini Yengi added a second five minutes later.
Substitute Leighton Clarkson’s cool finish in the 79th minute capped off a dominant showing for the Dons, who were able to shake off the disappointment of losing their opening two William Hill Premiership fixtures.
“The first two games in the league have been not too bad in terms of performance, but the result hasn’t been there,” said Thelin, whose side won the Scottish Cup last season.
“We see it every year that some teams from the Premiership get knocked out.
“There were a lot of supporters there that had travelled from far away and they need to see their team give 100 per cent.
“You need a lot of good players to be in a team that make semi-finals and finals — the competition has to be there.”
The Pittodrie side can now look forward to their Europa League play-off clash with FCSB on Thursday evening with a renewed sense of optimism.
Thelin was also pleased with the contribution of Yengi, who netted his first goal for the club.
The striker has come in for some criticism for his displays in the defeats to Hearts and Celtic but relished the physical battle with Morton’s backline.
“I think his performance overall was better in how he used his body,” Thelin added.
“Sometimes you get one chance. It’s not so many players who score with every chance they get so we have to create more chances in the box to help our strikers also.”
Morton boss Dougie Imrie admitted his team did not do enough to trouble their Premiership opponents.
Dimitar Mitov in the visitors’ goal did not have a save to make.
“It was always going to be a difficult afternoon, playing a top team in Aberdeen that are the Scottish Cup holders,” he said.
“Overall I don’t think we did enough to cause Aberdeen problems — we could have played for a month and not scored.
“I’ve got to give credit to Aberdeen, they are a top outfit and have got some really good players.
“We are disappointed to lose out in the manner that we did, just the quality of Aberdeen cut us open for the goals.”
