Aberdeen midfielder Kenny McLean knows his side’s performance against St Johnstone in Friday’s 3-0 defeat was unacceptable.
The Dons had the chance to reduce Celtic’s lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to five points with a victory in Perth but turned in a dismal display.
Goals from David Wotherspoon, Steven MacLean and Liam Craig gave Tommy Wright’s side a deserved victory and it could have been worse, with Joe Shaughnessy hitting the bar before a Steven Anderson goal was wrongly disallowed.
It was a miserable night for the 1,431 Aberdeen supporters who made the journey to McDiarmid Park in the hope of seeing their team pile the pressure back on Celtic but, instead, witnessed the title charge all but end with a whimper.
McLean said: “We know what happened wasn’t acceptable. The supporters paid good money to watch us and the performance wasn’t good enough.
“We need to make sure the players who are on the pitch don’t let that happen and we keep going from now until the end of the season.
“We need to work for every point. We have four games left and we will try to win all four.”
Manager Derek McInnes let his players know exactly what he thought of the abject performance after the game but Scotland international McLean said the players deserved the treatment.
He said: “After a performance like that we couldn’t say anything back, we just had to take it on the chin.
“We have to come back stronger next week and put our full focus on the next four games. We know the performance against St Johnstone wasn’t good enough.
“I’m sure we will go over the game again. The manager gave us a kick up the backside afterwards which was needed and deserved for the performance.”
The Dons have now lost three successive away matches and McLean has warned his team-mates they could be caught by Hearts and miss out on a top-two finish if the poor run continues.
He added: “We know that will be on the line if we put in performances like that. It is up to the ones who are on the pitch to keep going for every point.
“We can’t let the season fizzle out. At times, I’m sure it looked like that in the game but I can assure you the disappointment afterwards showed we care.
“St Johnstone were the better team right across the pitch. They worked us hard, so fair play to them but it isn’t good enough when the full team doesn’t turn up.”
