Despite falling to a last minute defeat at Tannadice, Jimmy Thelin took solace from a vastly improved display from the Dons against Dundee United.

“It’s not easy when you get a goal against you in the last situation of the game and you lose. There’s a lot of emotion at that moment because we are not winning games now and the performance was not so good in the last two games, but we must see the bigger picture too. The way we compete today, the way we play closer to each other on the pitch and help each other in a better way was a big step forward for us.

“Now we have to try to build from this platform and look forward, not looking back. There is of course frustration when you lose a game like we did today but we have to also think about the bigger picture of the season. It is not over, and we have to find a way out of this period. There is no magic trick, it’s just the effort and the performance and hopefully then finally you get what you deserve.

“We have to stay strong and be clear and consistent. When you have problems there is always a solution and you need to find this and try to build the performance so we can get the points. In football, in the long run you always get what you deserve and right now, we haven’t performed so well, so we don’t get the results. But at least today we take a huge step forward in the performance. We did not get the result, and everybody knows football is about results, so we have to do a little bit more to get the result we want. We must create that belief in what we’re doing and if you think about the last game and this game it was a huge difference. The players showed much, much more today so at least we are going in the right direction.

“If you play a game and you are in a bad run and you feel the performance is a little bit better in a difficult away game, we play with drive, passion we are fighting hard and then you lose everything in the last second of the game it is hard and people are frustrated. But we have to refocus on the next game because it’s coming quick.”