what the managers said

Quotes From PA Sport

Aberdeen’s Derek McInnes was disappointed not to have taken more from the match, despite his side coming from behind for the third time in the space of a week.

He said: “In three league games over the past week, we’ve come from behind in all three. Regardless of how well we’ve done in cups, the league is important.

“If we don’t finish second it won’t be the biggest disappointment. There are some good teams round about us, but we’re confident we can keep doing what we’ve been doing and hopefully we can come out on top.”

Although disappointed with his side’s slow start, McInnes was pleased with the way his side bounced back, and highlighted the contribution of Barry Robson in the result.

“We didn’t start the game as well as we normally do, but we were relentless in the quest to get the equaliser and dominant from there on in,” he said.

“If we were a wee bit more clinical, we could have converted that domination into another goal.”

Of Robson, he added: “Barry was pivotal. He epitomised everything we’ve been this season. He took full responsibility, he was aggressive and showed quality at times. His whole demeanour and body language showed he wasn’t going to let us lose the game.

“He was in good company with his team-mates, but he was very important to us today and he has been all season.”

Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara admitted he felt a draw with Aberdeen was a fair result, despite watching his side throw away an early lead at Pittodrie.

Paul Paton struck in the opening five minutes as United looked to close the five-point gap between the sides, but Niall McGinn struck early in the second half to cancel out his international team-mate’s opener.

McNamara felt his side had started the better of the two sides, and said: “We had a good start but over the 90 minutes, I thought it was a fair result.

“In the first 20-25 minutes I thought we had chances to add a second and third goal which didn’t come. The longer the half went on, the more Aberdeen came into it and I thought they were better than us in the second half.

“When you’ve got a goal cushion, you always seem to get deeper and deeper, and we paid the price for that.”

The United boss felt his side could have had a spot kick when Stuart Armstrong went down in the penalty area under the challenge of Mark Reynolds.

“It doesn’t really matter what I think, but it’s one we’ll look at later,” he said.

“We felt there was contact and that Stuart was pushed.”

With his side still five points behind Aberdeen in the race to finish second in the Scottish Premiership, McNamara feels his side can still challenge.

He said “Anything’s possible. We have to keep looking after our own performances and results, and wish for the best.”