Aberdeen captain Scott Brown has called on the Dons to find their fighting spirit following their loss at St Mirren.
The Dons’ recent revival was stopped in its tracks in Paisley on Tuesday as Stephen Glass’ side were punished for a lacklustre and lethargic showing against the Buddies in a 1-0 loss.
It was one of the poorest performances of what has been an inconsistent season so far for the Dons and player-coach Brown believes he and his team-mates only have themselves to blame.
He said: “Sometimes you need to get it into the strikers, and it’s that fighting spirit as well up the park. We didn’t have that.
“I think we thought we could just turn up and if we won the game we would be sitting in a nice position in the league.
“It doesn’t work like that, you have got to earn the right to play, earn the right to go and win games.
“You can turn up against Celtic, Rangers Hibs and Hearts, but we have to show the same mentality when we turn up against St Mirren away from home.
“If you don’t have that mentality, performances and quality drops.”
Aberdeen were not good enough in every department
The defeat means the Dons’ miserable run away from home continues. Glass’ side has just two away wins in the Premiership so far this season and they have little chance of improving that statistic if they repeat Tuesday’s display.
The lack of attacking threat was the biggest concern, but Brown believes it is unfair to single out any area.
He said: “For us, it wasn’t good enough – one shot on target, whether it’s at home or away from home.
“We lacked that little bit of urgency higher up the park. They gave us a lot of time on the ball and let us have the ball at the back, but sometimes you need to mix and match a bit.
“I think the performance throughout the whole team wasn’t good enough.
“We didn’t create enough chances, we didn’t defend well as a team.
“To be fair, they have scored a fantastic goal, yet again, but we need to play a lot better and dominate the game.
“It’s not just the ones in the final third, it’s throughout the whole team.”
More fight needed
The lack of fight in the Aberdeen team overall should be the biggest concern with the resolute and organised Saints successfully stifling the Dons attack for the whole game.
When it came to battling qualities there was only one winner in Paisley and Brown knows that has to change.
He said: “What we do in the dressing room I like to keep in there, but everyone is disappointed after a result like this.
“For the fans it was three hours coming down and three hours back up the road, so to watch that wasn’t good enough.
“It’s not just that mental toughness, but that toughness on the field, when to take the ball when it’s bobbling up and be brave and put your body on the line.
“We have been behind a lot this season and always hit back and created chances and scored goals. Tuesday wasn’t one of those days.”
Saints have now beaten the Dons on both of Aberdeen’s visits to Paisley this season and Brown hopes this latest loss can serve as a lesson for his team as their attention switches to Saturday’s home game against St Johnstone.
He said: “We came here last time, we were fantastic in the first half, and we thought it was going to be a nice easy game.
“The pitch started to cut up and I think it just didn’t suit us because it wasn’t inch-perfect.
“Sometimes we are going to have to deal with that in January and February, and even March and all the way through, when pitches aren’t going to be great.”
