I was a pain in the a** to Aberdeen medics reveals Dimitar Mitov as he tells pals to forget Celtic and final for now

Jimmy Thelin's men will return to Hampden for the Scottish Cup Final - but all focus needs to be on the fight for third says Dons No1

Dimitar Mitov insists Aberdeen need to put the Scottish Cup Final out of their minds for now – because the fight for third is the most important thing.

The Dons can look forward to a Hampden showcase against Celtic after seeing off Hearts in the semis.

Before that there is work to be done after the top-six split.

Aberdeen could claim European group-stage football by winning the Cup – but if Celtic were to get their hands on the trophy it would go to third place in the Premiership.

Jimmy Thelin’s side are currently fifth, three points behind Hibs ahead of their trip to Pittodrie.

Mitov admitted: “I think when you keep winning and you don’t lose games – especially on the big occasions like Saturday – it only gives belief to the boys.

“It’s amazing. You know, happy, but the job’s not finished. We’ve got one more game [the final] to go and we can’t think about it too much, we can’t be too happy about it.

“We now need to recover and concentrate on Hibs in the league. The most important thing is to forget about it, we don’t care about the Cup Final.

“The only thing we care about is Hibs. We recover, go back to training and all eyes on Hibs because they’re a top team.

“I feel like if we go out there and we perform at our best, it’s going to be a really enjoyable game.”

The 10- times capped Bulgarian had been out since the end of March with a shoulder injury suffered on international duty against the Republic of Ireland.

Mitov admitted he was a “pain in the a**” to the medical team trying to push himself for Hampden. It worked out and he made his comeback against the Jambos.

He joked: “Yes, I was pushing. I was training like crazy, you know, being in the gym, doing all the rehab as possible.

“I was just being a pain in the a**, if you want me to say that, sorry, to the physios, just to get me back for that game.

“Thankfully we managed to do it. It was really helpful that the manager put his trust in me and put me in goal.”

The former St Johnstone star hasn’t had the best of luck this season but is hoping all the future breaks go for him as he targets glory with the Dons.

He said: “[It has been] very difficult because the run we go into after the split, we’re playing against top teams and there’s a lot to play for.

“Obviously, there is the Cup Final and trying to finish as high as possible in the league.

“As any football player, you want to play in them, big games, you want to be involved. For me it’s just been a very unlucky season with injuries and stuff because if you look back at my history, I’ve never been injured in my career.

“Just all of a sudden something happened, I don’t know where.

“Listen, I’m happy to be back, happy to be helping the team and hopefully that was it and there is no more.”

Aberdeen were being lorded as potential title challengers after their perfect start under Thelin before their form deserted them for months.

But they have now lost just one game in the last nine and look to be coming together at the perfect time for a big finish.

Mitov said: “This group of guys, you know, having the highs from early in the season to having the lows in mid-season and then getting on a high again.

“That just shows character, that shows just growing together.

“The manager has been big into this, bringing up this philosophy of never giving up and always wanting to be better, always wanting to improve.

“You can see that the team is playing better and better. And when we play together more and more games, the team is only going to improve. So yes, I’ve been really happy for everybody involved with the football club.”

Mitov, 28, reckons the Dons were too open during their dip and claims that has been addressed.

Thelin was busy in January, bringing in defensive reinforcements, and the keeper said: “First and foremost, we had to stop getting chances created against us because we were conceding way too many.

“Bringing new players into the defence also helps a lot. We know we have quality in our front players.

“Kevin [Nisbet] has been firing, [Leighton] Clarkson has been really good too. They are players that can win games for us.

“As long as we give them a solid base at the back, that everything is solid and calm, we can give them the opportunity to go up there and win us games.”