With Aberdeen players dropping like flies to illness and injury in the build up to the game at Tannadice, Stephen Robinson was full of praise for the players that did get on the pitch at Tannadice, some of whom were also struggling,

“I'm proud of the effort they gave, because there were boys that shouldn't have been near the pitch today. We were decimated at the back with three centre halves missing. There's boys that were absolutely struggling, there's boys on the bench that shouldn't have been there either. I can't ask for more in terms of the effort and the quality they showed at times.

“I think I named the team three times from Thursday onwards, and then we had to make another late change today. It happens, it's life. The boys that didn't play literally couldn't get out of bed, but the ones that did showed a real desire. They were backed massively by the fans today, I have to say that as well. So we're all really disappointed that we couldn't come away with a minimum of a draw.

“Two goals should be enough to come out with something away from home in my opinion, but if we keep creating those opportunities, of course you want more. But first and foremost, when we went 2-2, we were a little bit too cavalier. We maybe should have managed the game better, but ultimately, I have to take the blame for that. It was probably our best performance going forward, but the balance has to be right at the other end.

“Defensively, I'm not going to hide from the fact that the three goals were really disappointing. The deflection was hard to do anything about, but the set play and the third goal was disappointing. But the boys give absolutely everything to me, so it's hard to come and criticise anyone.

“The result is all that matters to people. It hides a million flaws when you win 4-0 and we weren't fantastic against Motherwell by any stretch of the imagination. At the same time, when you lose, people miss that there was a lot of good stuff there today.”