Aberdeen winger Jonny Hayes admits he is “embarrassed” at crashing heavily to the Premiership’s bottom club.
In a brutal assessment of a dismal night Hayes says the Dons let the 4,,000 travelling support down in losing 4-0 at Dundee United.
Hayes also accepts the Reds let down manager Jim Goodwin at Tannadice.
Goodwin watched from the stands as he served the first of an eight game ban from the SFA for accusing Hibs’ defender Ryan Porteous of “blatant cheating”.
Aberdeen assistant manager Lee Sharp was in charge in the dugout.
In a straight talking assessment of the humiliating defeat, Hayes insists manager Goodwin’s ban was no excuse for the performance.
Hayes said: “It feels quite raw but I’m embarrassed at that performance in the first half.
“We let a lot of people down – lastly ourselves.
“Before that, we let a big travelling support down, everybody who supports the football club, the manager… I’m just embarrassed to be honest.
“I can’t put my finger on what went wrong.
“I’ve said before in years gone by that sometimes you get a performance like that out of the blue and you hope it’s out of the blue.
“Nothing goes right for you.
‘Individually and collectively we were poor, really poor.
“I’ve got no excuse or answer for that.
“I feel dejected to be honest.”
Absence of banned boss no excuse
Pittodrie gaffer Goodwin was serving the first game of his ban.
Goodwin was sanctioned by an immediate six-game ban with two matches suspended until the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
Aberdeen have confirmed they will appeal the eight-game ban.
Goodwin was in contact via phone with Sharp and goalkeeper coach Craig Samson throughout the match.
Asked if the absence of Goodwin was a contributing factor in the defeat, Hayes said: “No.
“The manager and his staff did all of the hard work during the week.
“It doesn’t make any difference. The manager still relayed his messages through Sharpy and Craig.
“It’s not an excuse for that performance.
“I’ll watch it back at home and try and put my finger on where it went wrong”
Two wins in 23 away league games
Defeat at Tannadice continued Aberdeen’s woeful away record in the Premiership.
The Reds have won just twice in the last 23 league games on the road.
Hayes insists the players are aware of that dismal away form but is confident it is not taking a toll psychologically.
Hayes, 35, hopes the defeat at Tannadice is the lowest depth the Dons will sink.
He said: “I wouldn’t say it’s psychological but we are aware of it.
“It’s going back the last couple of years but this is a new team so last year shouldn’t make a difference.
“We have plenty of new players.
“You could look at it and say we’ve had a good few chances and a good bit of possession,
“Dundee United were clinical.
“I thought they played well as a team so credit to them.
‘It was just one of those nights where they played really well and we were as poor as we can be.
“I really hope as poor as we’ll ever be.”
‘We weren’t positive in possession’
Dundee United are rock bottom of the Premiership table and had not won a league game this season prior to overcoming the Dons.
The Tannadice outfit had only scored four goals in their opening eight Premiership games prior to the New Firm derby.
In contrast the Reds went into the game on a high having swept aside Kilmarnock 4-1 at Pittodrie the previous weekend.
Asked if the Dons underestimated Dundee United, Hayes said: “No.
“This happened last year when we went to St Mirren who were bottom of the league and we lost that game.
“I didn’t want to mention that beforehand but it was relevant enough in my mind.
“The pitch (at Tannadice) is tremendous and it’s set up to play nice football.
“We just didn’t do that and we moved the ball too slowly.
“We had a game plan to try and expose Dundee United in the wide areas by getting an overload.
“However we didn’t move the ball fast enough and weren’t positive in possession.
“Individually and collectively we were really poor.”
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