The on loan defender got his first taste of glory after helping Jimmy Thelin's men lift the Scottish Cup at the Hoops' expense
Alfie Dorrington watched his Tottenham teammates celebrate their Europa League win and admitted that was the spur he needed to help Aberdeen lift the Scottish Cup.
The on-loan Spurs defender got his first taste of glory after he helped the Dons to see off treble-chasing Celtic after a dramatic, penalty shootout at Hampden.
Dorrington saw his parent club, under Ange Postecoglou, beat Manchester United in Wednesday’s final to lift their first trophy in 17 years and then hit the streets for their parade.
The 20-year-old wasn’t about to be left out as Jimmy Thelin’s side had their own open-top journey yesterday and took the Scottish Cup back to the Granite City for the first time in 35 years.
Dorrington admitted: “I watched the Tottenham one the other day. A few of my mates were there, they said it was crazy.
“It would have been nice to experience that, but the Aberdeen one was just crazy too. It more than made up for it. There were so many people there – it was packed.”
The central defender admitted that some of the Spurs squad had been turned into Aberdeen fans for the weekend.
He admitted: “Yeah, they’ve kept in touch the whole time.
“Especially on Friday night and before the game, they were just messaging me good luck. I think some of them watched the game.
“It’s just nice to know that I have the support from Tottenham and nice to know that I have the support from Aberdeen as well.”
Aberdeen were written off in most quarters going into this game against Brendan Rodgers’ side. In fairness, they had lost their last four meetings with the Hoops and came into the game on the back of Premiership defeats.
Dorrington knew there were no doubters in his changing room.
“There’s always a chance in a game of football,” Dorrington claimed.
“They’re Celtic. We had to respect them, but I don’t think we ever feared them.
“Maybe the people not giving us a chance gave us a bit more motivation to win and prove them wrong.”
Jimmy Thelin came up with a game plan that sprang a major shock.
He ditched his 4-2-3-1 formation for the first time and went for a 3-4-3 and it did the trick, although Dorrington initially feared luck wasn’t going to be on Aberdeen’s side when Cameron Carter-Vickers’ header came off him and flew into the net for Celtic to take the lead.
He explained: “I was marking my man and looking at him. At the last minute, I think it took the nick off someone, I can’t really remember. I thought we were comfortable even though we were one-nil down.
“They dominated the ball and got a lot of crosses in. But we felt comfortable all the time and trusted what the gaffer said.
“It may have seemed a bit hectic, but it just felt really comfortable.”
Dorrington has played a lot of football and cramped up and had to come off in the closing minutes of normal time. He knew he wasn’t going to be on penalty duty as he wasn’t even involved in the pre-match practice.
Dimitar Mitov and the rest of his Aberdeen squad proved spot on and ensured Dorrington claimed his first winner’s medal.
He proudly beamed: “I won the 17s and 18s cup in the same season. But you know I don’t even know how many people there were on Saturday - 50,000?
“When you’re in the game, obviously you feel it, but you don’t really recognise how big of an occasion it is.
“Maybe being from down south, it took me a while to realise that this is the Scottish version of the FA Cup. It’s probably the same in size.
“When I came off, looking around, I’m thinking, wow, I played in this. I’m just grateful for the opportunity.”
This is also likely to be the last game for many of this squad.
Jamie McGrath is going to Hibs, Jack MacKenzie is leaving and will be joined by others on the way out, while several loan players, including Dorrington, will all go back to their parent clubs and this will have been their final Aberdeen stand.
The Londoner stated: “I think we all just knew that it was our last game together as a group. People might move on.
“Obviously, for me, I knew this was the last game of my loan. I tried to go out with a bang.
“There were a lot of emotions in the game, but you have to stay emotionless.
“You’ve got a job to do. When you do your job, it gives you a chance. Obviously, like I said, a lot of people were doubting us.
“One percent is still a chance. Anything can happen in the game of football.”
Dorrington has loved this first taste of top-team football and wouldn’t be adverse to returning on loan if Tottenham feel he needs more first-team experience.
He said: ”Obviously, I love the city, I love the club, the staff, the players. I love Tottenham as well. They’re kind of in charge of what I do.
“I’d be grateful if Aberdeen came back in for me but it’s all in Tottenham’s hands.”