Aberdeen captain Ryan Jack was stunned by his side’s 5-1 capitulation against St Johnstone but is determined to prove wrong those proclaiming the Dons’ bubble has burst.
The Scottish Premiership leaders suffered their third defeat on the spin with a dismal showing against the Perth Saints at Pittodrie on Saturday.
Brian Easton and former Don Joe Shaughnessy gave the visitors a two-goal lead before Ash Taylor pulled one back for Aberdeen in a blistering opening 12 minutes.
But Liam Craig gave Tommy Wright’s men a 3-1 advantage at the break before two goals in the space of four minutes from another former Aberdeen player, Steven MacLean, capped a miserable day for Derek McInnes’ side.
It was the Dons’ worst home defeat since a 5-1 loss against Sigma Olomouc in Mark McGhee’s first game in charge six years ago but Jack believes it would be wrong to write off his side just yet.
He said: “There will be people out there who are looking for us to fail. They will be wanting us not to do as well as we have been doing.
“But it’s up to us to answer that and make people eat their own words by the performances we put in.
“The performance against St Johnstone was not good enough, right across the board. We weren’t at the races. We need to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves and realise what we are.
“Credit to St Johnstone, every time they had a chance they scored.
“We have been solid defensively this season, not giving much away, and we’ve been clinical up front. We need to hold up our hands, accept we weren’t great and try to put it right against Ross County.”
It has been a surprising loss of form for the Dons, who had started the league campaign with eight successive wins before being knocked out of the League Cup by Championship side Hibs and losing to Caley Thistle and St Johnstone.
But Jack insists the Aberdeen players have not been affected by the increased expectation on the side after the Reds’ impressive start to the season.
He added: “We won the Celtic game 2-1 and there was all the hype and pressure surrounding that game.
“When they came here we were on our good run and we dealt with it fine and beat them at home. They are one of the best teams in the country.
“We don’t ever mean to go out and put in a performance like that. So many of us had an off day. As captain I’m going to have to try to keep the boys positive, keep them going and make sure we are ready for Ross County.”