McInnes ‘gutted’ by abuse from Dons supporters

DEREK McInnes admitted he was “gutted” to hear Aberdeen fans urging him to leave the club at the end of the goalless draw at St Mirren.

The Dons struggled to break down their opponents as they failed to score from open play for a third game in a row.

McInnes said: “I can’t pretend otherwise, I am (disappointed by the abuse).

“But that’s the way it is. I don’t think it was a lot of them but it was enough to be heard.

“We’re all human at the end of the day. I’m a bit gutted by it. But you don’t sign up to be Aberdeen manager to be popular. If results don’t come you expect criticism – it’s the same at any bigger club.

“I’m confident in the players. Hopefully, we can keep making improvements in the second half of the season. I’m confident we’ve got the squad here to meet the demands put on us and finish third.”

McInnes felt his team ought to have had a penalty in the first half when Conor McCarthy fouled Sam Cosgrove in the box.

He added: “We should have had a penalty in midweek and again here. I can only affect the things I can affect.

“It’s up to me to show the belief in the players and, hopefully, over the course of the season these refereeing decisions themselves out.”

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin was pleased not to be presiding over another “hard luck story” after suffering a string of close defeats earlier in the campaign.

He said: “Early on in the season we lost a lot of games and the majority of them were by a single goal. Three or four months ago we might have lost that game 1-0.

“So this was a positive point.”

even

United head coach Robbie Neilson.