Kevin Nisbet was frank in his assessment of a poor final night at the office at Pittodrie for this season.

“It just wasn't good enough really. I think after the last three, four weeks where it's been so positive, tonight probably epitomises why we're in the position we are.

“We stopped doing the things that we were doing in previous games that we were all really good at, like playing the ball down the side. I think we probably went too long, too quick. The start of the second half, we actually started really well, really bright, but then the game just kind of died after we missed a couple of chances.

“The chance I had second half, I wanted the pass to be a bit heavier, to kind of step onto it, but I should have hit the target there, I should be scoring. But I don't think we deserved anything from the game, to be completely honest. I don't think we played well enough. St Mirren wanted it more. We knew they were going to pick up second balls, and they did that throughout the first half and maybe the last 25 minutes as well, so we didn't deserve anything from the game.

“The manager has been very vocal about there being a lot of work to do. There's got to be big changes next year in how we want to set up and how hard we're going to be to beat, how we've got to try and win games. He's done great since he came in. The first job was to come in and get us safe, and he's done that. The last three or four weeks we have been a really good team, so for us it's just about trying to finish on a high on Sunday.

“It is important to have a strong core group of players. We probably have a lot of younger players, a lot of good players, but we don't have the right balance. We need maybe a bit more physicality, a bit more pace next year. That can also help get the best out of the players we already have.

“It's not the case we need to bring loads of players in, I think we have to bring ones in that can help the younger players and the project players, so there's not a lot of pressure too soon for them. They need to dip in, dip out and play around that core group of players to go and try and get results.

“Consistency is massive. The two years since I've been here, we’ve not been consistent enough. That's a challenge next year for us. This is a big club. It's a lot of pressure. If you can't handle the pressure, then you won't be here for long.”

Aberdeen finish their season at Dundee on Sunday and will be looking for a much better performance according to Nisbet.

“The travelling fans have come out in big numbers week in, week out, every time we play so we need to give them a good performance and something to cheer about at Dens Park. We want to finish on a high.”