Recap
Another frustrating afternoon for Aberdeen as we failed to take the opportunity to close the gap on third-placed Motherwell, at this dull affair in Paisley.
New signing Matty Kennedy was given a starting spot wearing the number twenty-three shirt, after signing from St Johnstone on Friday evening and was the only change to the starting line-up from our loss against Motherwell midweek.
As a result, Jon Gallagher was dropped to the bench to make way for him.
Ash Taylor had the early chance in the 12th minute from a Niall McGinn corner, but he head it out wide.
The Dons had a penalty claim in the 27th minute when Conor McCarthy grabbed Sam Cosgrove’s shirt and the striker was felled as a result. Referee, Don Robertson awarded a free kick and dodged the penalty call.
Just moments later Scott McKenna had a chance but a late deflection sent it over the cross-bar.
The Dons nearly went behind after Dylan McGeouch slipped up after a slack back pass was picked up by Obika.
Luckily for Aberdeen, Obika curled his effort beyond Joe Lewis which hit the far off post – too close for comfort from a silly mistake.
Just moment later, Cammy McPherson crossed to McCarthy at the back post and his header went straight into the arms of Joe Lewis.
Into the second half, and St Mirren had the most of the early chances. Tony Andreu fired in a shot in the 53rd minute which was blocked by Lewis.
Sam Foley threatened again just before the hour was on the clock with a volley over the cross-bar from the edge of the penalty area.
There wasn’t much to talk about for the rest of the match, in the 80th minute Lewis Ferguson picked out Ryan Hedges at the edge of the box, but he failed to put the shot on target.
There was clear “booing” from the travelling Red Army at the end of the match after yet another frustrating day on the road.
It’s not good enough, and change is desperately needed ahead of the clash at Ibrox on Saturday.
Derek McInnes said: “You don’t sign up to being Aberdeen manager to be popular. If results don’t come you expect criticism – it’s the same at any bigger club.
“I’m confident in the players, hopefully we can keep making improvements in the second half of the season.
“I’m confident we’ve got the squad here to meet the demands put on us and finish third.”
“We’ve come to win the game and not done so, so we’re disappointed. I’ve come here with Aberdeen teams in the past and not had the same control.
“We should have had a penalty in the first half, which would have been crucial for us.
“I thought on the turnover of possession, when we had opportunities to get at them quickly, we didn’t take advantage of that. St Mirren condense their half of the pitch but the onus was on us to break them down.
“We came to get three points and we’re disappointed to only get one.
“We’ve had one defeat in five and it’s another clean sheet – defensively we were good and in the middle of the park we were fine. We’re just looking for a bit more slickness in the final bit, more responsibility to take shots on or look for the final pass.”
