Aberdeen striker Chris Maguire has called for his team-mates to finish their season on a high following their Scottish Cup disappointment.The Dons have saved their best displays for cup competitions this season, reaching the last 32 of the UEFA Cup and the semi-finals of both domestic tournaments.

Jimmy Calderwood's men have put four past Copenhagen, drawn with Bayern Munich and won at Celtic Park.

But they conceded four goals in a semi-final for the second time this season when they lost 4-3 to Queen of the South at Hampden on Saturday.

Two Andrew Considine headers and Barry Nicholson's strike three times pegged back the First Division side but former Dons striker John Stewart smashed home the winner.

Now Maguire wants to turn Aberdeen's inconsistent form on its head with a late push for third place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The youngster's double against Falkirk last week took Aberdeen into the top six just when it mattered and he believes they can now go some way to atoning for a dark day in the club's history.

"That's part and parcel of football, you have ups and downs,"

said the 19-year-old, who had a quiet game at Hampden.

"It is how you react to them. I'm sure everybody will go out in the right way to react.

"If we want to get into Europe we have to fight really hard in the league and win most of our five games, if not all five, to secure third spot.

"Everyone is on a real downer, all credit to Queen of the South, they performed well but we didn't perform well.

"We showed great character pulling the three goals back and I thought it was going to be our day.

"In semi-finals you don't get goals as quick as that but again Queen of the South managed to get the winner."

Midfielder Barry Nicholson admits it will take a special effort to recover from the shock loss.

"It's going to take a bit of character for the boys to bounce back from that one because that was a great chance to reach a major final," he said

"That was a big point earlier in the season. We were up and down and we spoke about not starting properly.

"The last six or seven games we have started well."

Nicholson could be leaving Aberdeen in the summer after rejecting a contract offer but that was not on his mind at Hampden.

"I'm not disappointed because a final could have been my last game," he said.

"I'm disappointed because I wanted to go to another cup final."

Goalkeeper Derek Soutar admitted blame for Steve Tosh's opening goal after failing to deal with a high ball under pressure from Sean O'Connor.

"I hold my hands up," he said. "I tried to catch it and the boy has got a good jump on me.

"I should have punched it and hopefully got the second ball clear. Mistakes happen and it's not a nice experience.

"I have suffered relegation with Dundee and that was exactly the same."

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