Derek McInnes was left to rue two points that got away against Dundee United as the sides played out their second 0-0 draw of the season this afternoon.

“I felt it was a missed opportunity for us this afternoon. At half-time, I was really pleased with the way things were going. Although we hadn’t scored, the attacking threat in the team was clear and I felt we were causing them problems. We were moving the ball quickly and doing a lot of the things we’d asked of the players.

“Ryan Hedges and Jonny Hayes were really prominent in the wide areas, playing around their shape and getting their crosses in. I thought they were ably supported by the other players who were all bright and in general, I thought we were very good in the first 45 minutes without quite getting that final ball or finish quite right.

“We were looking for more of the same in the second half but it didn’t materialise and that was extremely disappointing. We needed to show our experience in the second half, show some poise, stay calm and do the right thing but instead we were guilty of poor decision making. We stopped getting crosses in the box, we stopped moving the ball from sides to side quickly the way we had, and we lost control of the game.

“I have to say that United were better second half and I thought their front two were lively. Our back three had a job to do on them to keep the clean sheet, but going forward, we needed to be better after the break. We needed to keep asking the questions, exert some pressure and try to force a mistake and we didn’t do that.

“There were opportunities, such as when Hayes pulled the ball back and Curtis Main and Sam Cosgrove had made the same run and it went behind them, Hedges had a shooting chance he turned down, Main put a shot wide, so chances were there, but not as many as we wanted. It’s just frustrating that we didn’t show much better in the second half considering the attacking threat we had on the pitch.

“Maybe things would have been different had we been given the penalty in the first half for the challenge on Hedges. I saw it again at half-time and it looked a penalty kick to me, the reaction of the players was telling at the time too, but it wasn’t to be.”

One big positive from the afternoon was the return of Scott Wright as a second half substitute, his first taste of the action since the start of November.

“It was good to get Scott Wright back on the pitch. He trained virtually every minute with us on Thursday, trained fully on Friday, so that was encouraging. He didn’t feel ready for a 90 minutes, understandably enough, but it was good to give him half an hour on the pitch and hopefully he can have a good week in training ahead of Rangers.

“Any player coming back after two months is a bit wary, they’re still sussing out how fit they are, so today should have done him a lot of good and given him some confidence. He was an important player for us before the injury so having him back is a boost and hopefully he can pick up from where he left off pretty quickly.”