Aberdeen midfielder Ryan Jack apologised to the Dons supporters for what he branded an unacceptable display in losing 1-0 at Ross County on Saturday.
Nearly 2,000 Aberdeen supporters made the long journey north and created a carnival atmosphere at Victoria Park.
They were left with nothing to cheer after Rocco Quinn’s second-half goal proved enough to snap a six-game unbeaten league and cup run for Derek McInnes’s side.
To compound the frustration about the performance, Aberdeen attacker Josh Magennis, pictured below, will see a specialist this week after suffering a knee injury in the closing stages of the game.
The forward came on as a substitute for Scott Vernon after 73 minutes on Saturday, but has been forced to withdraw from the Northern Ireland squad for their World Cup qualifying matches against Azerbaijan and Israel.
Despite a barrage of late second-half pressure the Dons could not force an equaliser in Dingwall, which left Jack and the large travelling support deflated.
The 21-year-old said: “We had a few chances to get something in the end, but we should not have got ourselves into that position in the first place.
“I feel like we have let a lot of people down, especially the supporters. They were excellent, right behind us the whole way, even from the warm-up.
“To let them down the way we did was unacceptable and all the players are bitterly disappointed.
“The management did everything they could all week to get us into the best shape and ready for the game.
“We let the staff down as well as the supporters and ourselves down as well.”
Northern Irish forward Niall McGinn came closest to scoring for the Dons in a first half interrupted by a hamstring injury to referee Crawford Allan, with fourth official David Somers taking over after a seven-minute delay.
After conceding early in the second half, Aberdeen forced a series of corners but never looked like scoring despite a concerted late period of pressure.
Jack knows the Pittodrie side can do better and said: “We had a lot of pressure, but we never started playing until they scored and then we thought we had to up our game.
“It was too late in the end and Ross County got the points. We have been on a decent run and we wanted to keep it going.
“Now we have the international break, which is a bit tough as we want to go back out and put it right.”