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Quotes from the Press Room
The managers’ reaction to defeat in Perth
Derek McInnes bemoaned his side’s inability to take advantage of their good fortune in the first half when MacLean and McDonald passed up chances to go ahead.
“It was a very disappointing afternoon, we caused ourselves problems and got off the hook,” said McInnes.
“With Johnny’s pass back we expected to be punished and then again with the one Jamie let slip.
“So we got away with a couple and there were enough warnings for us to cut out the sloppiness.
“We should have dealt with the goal better and for Steven MacLean to have that room to put it away isn’t good enough.
“Although we hit the bar and finished the half better than we started, I felt we huffed and puffed.
“There wasn’t much in the game, the teams played against each other and there wasn’t an awful lot of quality. It had 0-0 written all over it. We then had to take Russell off when he injured his knee and they get the goal. As I say Steven should not have had that much space in the box.
“St Johnstone are a team who always make it difficult. They are well organised, hard-working and play with aggression.
“When you play them you need that bit of quality and I don’t think we had enough of that.
“With the players we had on the pitch we needed to do a lot more in forward areas and we needed to be more positive. At times we kept the ball well enough but did nothing with it.
“It was a very disappointing afternoon’s work.”
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Tommy Wright meanwhile praised his forthright striker Steven MacLean after he scored the winner.
The 32-year-old former Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth player, who had a loan spell at Pittodrie in 2010, hit the outside of a post when clean through on goal in the first half, while Perth midfielder Gary McDonald also missed a golden chance before Dons defender Andrew Considine hit the bar with a header.
However, with 10 minutes remaining, MacLean was more clinical when he was set up by substitute Michael O’Halloran, steering the ball low past Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield to earn the gratitude of his manager.
“Steven is excellent on and off the pitch, he’s a big personality,” said Wright.
“By his own admission he doesn’t get enough goals, but I think that’s down to the work he does outside the box.
“He does so much unselfish work bringing other people into play, he’s sometimes not in the positions he should be to score.
“But he’s a real leader for us and is a winner.