Shinnie disappointed to lose out to brother Graeme at Pride Park

Hatters midfielder Andrew Shinnie was left disappointed to lose out to younger brother Graeme during Town’s 2-0 defeat at Derby County on Saturday.
Andrew Shinnie and Graeme Shinnie before the gameAndrew Shinnie and Graeme Shinnie before the game
Andrew Shinnie and Graeme Shinnie before the game

Although the pair have played in the same side as each other earlier in their careers when at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the weekend saw them line up in opposing side from the start for the first time.

They had faced each other once before, a Scottish Cup semi-final clash between Hibernian and Aberdeen back in April 2017.

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That day, Andrew came off the bench in the 63rd minute, with Graeme playing the whole game, and the latter coming out on top once more as the Dons won 3-2.

Andrew Shinnie marks his brother Graeme at Pride ParkAndrew Shinnie marks his brother Graeme at Pride Park
Andrew Shinnie marks his brother Graeme at Pride Park

On what it was like facing his brother, Shinnie said: “There was no chat, nothing like that when you’re playing, it’s just you against him, you don’t look at it in any other way.

“It’s just 11 v 11 on the pitch, and whatever will be said will be after the game when you have a chat or a drink or whatever and chat about the game, but when it’s in play, it’s just man against man, you just forget about all that.”

It was the same for Graeme too, the Rams midfielder saying: “It was a proud day to play against my brother in a Championship game.

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"He’s played a lot of games down here and for it to be my first game against my brother, it was a bit surreal.

“Once the game started, he’s just another opponent and then after the game he’s my brother again. So it was enjoyable, especially when we won the game, it was a good occasion.”

It had looked like both Shinnie’s might not make the contest, with Andrew missing Town’s last two games due to injury, while Graeme hadn’t featured in the Championship since moving down south from Scotland in the summer.

Despite that, the Shinnie clan were still at Pride Park to watch the two brothers in action as Andrew said: “Mum, dad and my grandparents were down, so it was good to see them as well.

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“It was good for them to be at the game to watch their two sons playing and I’m sure they enjoyed it.

“They’re a bit disappointed for me, but Graeme did well, so they’ll just be happy to see both their sons playing.”

It was Graeme who had the better of the day, with a fine performance in midfield for the Rams, as Andrew thought he showed boss Philip Cocu just what he can bring to the team.

He said: “He’s been a bit disappointed the way it went for him so far.

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“It’s been a bit unfair on him, not getting game time, being in the 18s sometimes, but he got his chance and he showed he’ll do well at this level.

“He did well for them, I think he got man of the match from the stadium for his performance, so it just shows what he can do, it will be good for him kicking on now.

“He’s a good player at this level, I’m surprised he’s not been used more, but the manager’s done what he’s done.

“He should be at least in the squad and getting minutes for them. He’s a good competitive player and he works his socks off, he gets stuck in and he’s a good lad.

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“So I’m obviously happy for him, in terms of that’s him making the breakthrough here and he’ll kick on with Derby, but disappointed as I wanted to come here and win the game.”

Although happy for his brother, there was no disguising Andrew’s annoyance that Town had slipped to their sixth defeat of the season.

He said: “I’m obviously disappointed, I wanted to come here and win, get the three points for Luton, I felt we were good enough to do that.”

“It’s a disappointing points tally for the week because every game I feel we played well, Blackburn, Millwall midweek and then here.

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“I don’t feel we deserved to lose the game, maybe we didn’t deserve to win it, but I felt like we played well and we showed with three games this week we can compete at this level and we’re a good team.

“The second goal kills it though.

"We want to win games, we don’t just want to make up numbers in this league, we feel we can come to places like Derby and win so that’s the disappointing thing.”

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