Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Aberdeen boss McInnes calls for tight rearguard after ‘poor’ Saints show
ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes will demand his defence tighten up after gifting St Johnstone an equalising goal in the 1-1 draw at Pittodrie.
McInnes was frustrated at the way the rearguard allowed the ball to get to Michael O’Halloran and then stood off the winger to give him the time to shoot.
The shot then squirmed through keeper Joe Lewis’ hands.
McInnes said: “It was self inflicted and such a poor goal to lose.
“That goal was gifted because we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be countered in the first place and we had chances to clear.
“Then we allowed the cross to come in and then also allowed O’Halloran loads of space to get his shot away.
“It wasn’t even a strong shot and we should be saving that and keeping it out. A combination of a lot of things gave St Johnstone the equalising goal. For that type of goal to be lost is not good enough.
“That type of goal gives the opponent encouragement because we were dominant with our play until then with a lot of what we were doing.
“We were switching play, getting balls into the box, playing with tempo and also asking the question which was everything I wanted.
“I was disappointed that from a winning position and being so good up until 42 minutes we did not go on to win the game.”
Aberdeen conceded minutes before half-time and McInnes hoped to use the break to galvanise his players.
H o w e v e r, he was frustrated that his players “lost their way” i n the second half.
McInnes said: “The second half wasn’t good enough. “We never really had any real confidence or control in the second half.”