Aberdeen winger Niall McGinn has said that a determined defensive effort can frustrate Celtic and see his side lift the League Cup at Hampden.

The sides meet at the national stadium to contest the season's first piece of silverware on Sunday and McGinn could be a key player in Aberdeen's plans to end Celtic's trophy run. He believes it can be done and if the Dons can get their noses in front then Brendan Rodgers' side will have a hard job to get back on level terms.

"If we score first it will be a big incentive and there's not many times in my time we've gone ahead and lost the game," he told Aberdeen's official website.

"We'll need a wee bit of luck at times and will have to defend really well and Joe (Lewis) is probably going to have to pull off a few saves and we'll have to be strong defensively.

"We need to defend from the front right through the midfield and any opportunities that come our way we're going to do our best to take them."

McGinn lifted the trophy as an Aberdeen player in 2014 and agrees with manager Derek McInnes that familiarity with the occasion can be an asset going into the game.

"I'm very relaxed and I've been quite fortunate to be involved in a few finals now," he said.

"I think I've started every final we've got to apart from the 3-0 game where I didn't start, which was obviously disappointing.

"Hopefully I've got the opportunity to play on Sunday. We've been used to it for a while getting to semi-finals and finals and it's a great privilege to be part of a team that's getting to cup finals."