McInnes frustrated as depleted Dons lose midfield battle and tie

Derek McInnes believes his Aberdeen side lost the midfield battle as they crashed out of the Betfred Cup against St Mirren.

The Dons were without the influential midfield duo of Lewis Ferguson and Ross McCrorie as they continued to self- isolate and their absence showed especially in a dreadful first half.

The visitors improved after the break but succumbed to Ja m i e McGrath’s late strike after Joe Lewis’ mistake, leaving the manager frustrated.

McInnes said: “We didn’t start the game well and handed St Mirren the initiative.

“Technically the free-kick was a very good goal but we were dithering in the middle of the park, slow to react and gave away the ball.

“That passage of play probably epitomised that uncertainty in the middle of the park rather than being aggressive and dealing with the situation.

“They were enjoying the middle of the park too much. We don’t lose many battles in the midfield when Mc C r o r i e and Ferguson are about.

“A lot of players who’ve formed our identity this season were unavailable and we’ve tried to navigate a difficult week – three away games in six days.”

Ilkay Durmus fired St Mirren ahead with an excellent free- kick after only four minutes before Niall McGinn equalised just before half-time.

Mc I n n e s made two alterations at the interval and changed formation to fix Aberdeen’s issues.

Sam Cosgrove was ineffective in the first half and failed to emerge after the break.

Mc I n n e s explained: “There were no injuries, it was to change the dynamic of the game. I felt we needed to get a hold of the ball more and Curtis (Main) is maybe better than Sam at doing that.

“We wanted Jonny Hayes playing close to him to stretch their defence with ball carriers on the side.”