There was a Churchillian – 1940s version – approach to St Mirren’s work as Aberdeen blitzed them, the statistics showing something different from the scoreline.
For the hosts, this was all about frustration, particularly over the faux pas that led to the loss of their goals, while the visitors’ stoicism during a backs-to-the-wall performance had to be lauded, although Oran Kearney, their manager, and his squad will still have thoughts of what might have been had they held on to their 2-1 lead before scoring machine Sam Cosgrove clipped in an equaliser 15 minutes from the end.
The Dons striker’s 15th goal in fourteen games made-up for his first-half silliness in decking Paul McGinn in the home penalty area to allow the colourfully-named Duckens Nazon to fire home from the spot to create shock number one.
“He is probably not used to being in there,” the Buddies full-back said of Cosgrove, “and the ball has gone in behind the two of us.
“He is a big, strong guy and he has pulled me to the ground. I don’t think any of them were complaining about it.
“The goal helped because if you go a goal down at Pittodrie, you are up against it. It is hard to get out.
“Taking the lead gives you that platform to counter attack and I thought we did it well, but we could have done it better.
“They were so gung-ho, as they need to be at home, and I thought we could have punished them more. We are still happy with how we played, though.”
Lewis Ferguson’s equaliser underscored his worth on the day his father, Derek, beat Derek McInnes, the Reds’ manager, to the punch by announcing on BBC Radio Scotland that his son was about to agree a new deal to keep him at the club until 2024, although they will be hopeful of a lucrative sale of the talented midfielder long before then.
But when Kyle McAllister’s eye-catching strike put the Paisley men in front, and despite the continued onslaught under which their defence laboured, there were thoughts in the away dugout of: “Can we really win this?”
“Not many teams go to Aberdeen and get results,” McGinn admitted. “So, we would definitely have taken a draw had that been offered before the kick-off.
“It is just a bit sore in terms of not holding on. They seemed to throw eight people forward at the end and were launching it in.
“We are not the biggest team either, so it was a good sign that we were able to see it out.
“We are happy with the point.”
The same could not be said of McInnes nor Graeme Shinnie, who bemoaned home form that has not yielded a win in their last four home Premiership outings.
“Our home form hasn’t been good enough,” he insisted. “It’s something we desperately need to work on.
“If a team at the bottom of the league is coming up here and we’re scoring two goals, we should win the game.
“From me as the captain right through the team, it’s not been good enough. We’ve not performed well enough and it’s frustrating.
“At this time of the season it’s opportunities like the one against St Mirren that we need to be taking with other results going our way.
“We’ve not capitalised on it so it’s annoying.
“St Mirren are fighting for their lives and you wouldn’t expect them to go gung ho. They came to frustrate and they did that.”
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