Yahoo Sport 
Nicky Devlin wants Aberdeen to tap into Celtic lesson for Rangers battle as he urges Red Army to be 12th man
Nicky Devlin believes Aberdeen learned lessons against Celtic and their players can use that to their advantage against Rangers.
The on-form Dons have won all but one of their 15 games this season and their two dropped points came in the recent 2-2 fight back at Celtic Park. Devlin knows in the big games that Aberdeen have to be right at it and that will need to be the case again when Philippe Clement’s side travel to Pittodrie on Wednesday night. The Scotland new boy admitted: “I think it (the Celtic fightback) just gave us almost the belief, especially this kind of second half. I didn't think we played too badly in the first half but in big moments and stuff we maybe weren’t great and then in the second half we obviously managed to score two goals.
“I'm sure Celtic would have said they could have scored a few as well but we missed a couple of chances as well so yeah, it just gave us probably more belief that we're a good side. If we needed reminding then that was the kind of reminder but also probably a bit of a reminder that we have to be at our best. We weren't at our best in the first half against Celtic and we were punished so we know we have to be at our best to win games.”
Aberdeen are currently six points in front of Rangers and Devlin and his team-mates are looking to increase that gap. He said: “Yeah, it’s a massive game for the club, for everyone involved, but it's one we're trying to go in and try and win.
“We've been doing well, we're in a good place just now as a team. As a group of players, we're all kind of going in the right direction and yeah. It's a game we're all looking to win.
“I think probably what the manager's been stressing to us is, it's an opportunity to go and win another game and that's what we'll obviously try and do. Where that puts you in the league table and stuff like that, that takes care of itself, but we know we've obviously got a tough game on our hands tomorrow night as Rangers have shown this year already. We know how difficult it will be tomorrow and we have to be at our best and that's probably all we can concentrate on making sure the best Aberdeen turns up.”
The pressure is all on Rangers but Devlin doesn’t think their rivals are in that bad a place. He stated: “As I said earlier, I can understand potentially why people see it like that. I don't, I mean they've won two games away from home in Europe they've won the last game in the European competition by four goals. So yeah, I don't think they're in a bad place.
“They're coming off the back of a win against St Mirren, which we've seen already this year can be very difficult to do. St Mirren make it really hard for you, so they're coming off the back of another win so yeah, it's set up good too, teams that are in good form just now and hopefully we manage to come out on top.”
Aberdeen has sold out for the third game and Devlin knows the Red Army can be their 12th man. He said: “Yeah, I think you have to use the atmosphere, especially when you're at home I think obviously Celtic and Rangers manage to do that well when they're at home they feed off the atmosphere, so it's something we have to maybe look to do."
Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football.
