Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson pointed to character and determination in his side as the key to securing a huge win over Kilmarnock at Pittodrie.

“What's not been said about this Aberdeen side for a long time is that they showed great character. Well, we did that today. We defended their box when we needed to, didn't concede from set plays. From wide free-kicks, we’ve conceded the most goals in the league, corners as well, we're right up there with the worst in the league. But that didn’t happen today.

“Another clean sheet, so we're a team now that are doing the basics right. We're hard to beat, hard to break down. Everybody knows what they're doing. Can we be better? Of course we can be better. We can be better on the ball, we can be more creative, we can play positive football more and learn our lesson for how we got in front. But that comes with the situation we're in as well.

“As I say, it's been a long time since it’s been said that the Aberdeen team won't lie down, they won't roll over. They will defend their box, they will do the simple things well, and when they're not playing on top of their game, they're still going to be hard to beat. That's what I wanted.

“We started the game really well for 15, 20 minutes. I thought we were excellent, we started doing things that we were very positive, played forward, played down the sides. Then we stopped doing that, nerves set in, ad that happens when you haven’t been winning game. and you do that when you're confident and winning games.

“We got off to a great start with the goal. It was a superb touch from Stuart. Jack did well to hold it up from the throw, and it was a really, really composed finish. Until he tired, I thought Afeez was very good today.

“There were some good performances. I have to pick out Gavin Malloy. The back three, they've come in for criticism. I think Liam got a bit of criticism before I came here. Jack had criticism. And the three of them have really, really stood up when we needed them. They were the only fit centre-halves at that stage. You have to give credit when credit is due. But I thought Gavin Malloy was outstanding today.

“When I first came in, one of the things was we didn't have enough first contacts in our box. We give the ball away more than any other team in the league in the last 30 yards in our own half, and we conceded way, way too many set plays. So those small bits are the bits that I came in and said, ‘First off, let’s get it safe.’ Again, I reiterate, can we be much better on the ball? Of course we can. But you can't play well every week. Hearts are top of the league because they've ground out results as well. Some brilliant performances, brilliant football.

“But to go forward, working hard, doing the basics, that’s the bare minimum. We’ll add quality to that. We'll add players to that as well. And players will be better on the ball than they were in the situation we're in today.

“We have to have a team that's not going to lie down, not going to concede silly goals. Of course, you'll have bad performances, you'll play poorly on the ball sometimes, but we have to do the basics right. And we've done that today. Again, the situation meant that the nervousness crept in. You could feel it all around the stadium, that’s understandable, but we coped.

"I'm really proud of the players today. Everybody wanted Aberdeen to fail. It's not where Aberdeen should be. And we have to do the basics right to make sure this doesn't happen again. We're not mathematically safe yet, so there's still work to be done, but this was a huge win.”