Liam Scales reflected on a night where the Dons were left to rue a poor opening to the game that left them with too much to do at Livingston.

“It was a very disappointing night. You can’t give Livingston two goals that early in the game that easily. It’s a hard enough place to come and their bread and butter is holding on to a lead – if they go ahead here, they usually pick up points.

“The first goal came because we couldn’t clear the first ball, and we haven’t been good enough at that all year, myself included. It’s all about sticking tight to people. It was poor defending and something we have to work even harder on to put right.

“It’s hard to be physical as a defender now because you see penalties being given all the time, so it’s about being switched on, concentrating, being in good positions to cut things out, but we didn’t do that well enough tonight.

“The second half was a different story altogether, we were very happy how we played, but we couldn’t turn it round and everyone is really frustrated because of that.

“That second half was one of our best performances of the season. We haven’t played as well in some previous games in the last four or five weeks and yet come away with three points. We had enough chances to win tonight, we did all we could second half but we couldn’t get the goals we needed.

“After that, Saturday is a massive game for us against Dundee United. If we can come away from this week with six points, that won’t be too bad, so we need to be right at it and go out on a high note before the World Cup break.”

Fixture Change | Hearts v Aberdeen