Dons are undone by rash red and fatigue

THE physical toll exacted on his team by a gruelling week of football meant Derek McInnes was in the mood to protect his players even after a fourth consecutive home league defeat.

Yet his understanding only stretched so far. Until teenager Dean Campbell foolishly invited a second yellow card from referee Gavin Duncan midway through the first half, Aberdeen were a goal up and well placed to continue their recent revival in form.

And, although McInnes felt a degree of frustration at the match official’s decision to reach for the card, he did not make any allowances for youth in criticising the teenager’s petulant decision to stick out a leg and block Iain Vigurs’ quickly-taken free-kick.

‘It is a learning curve for Dean, although I do think there was a bit of inconsistency there as the same thing happened to us at Kilmarnock in midweek,’ said McInnes. ‘It was very harsh on him but, once he has been carded, he has to watch what he is doing.

‘It doesn’t matter if you are 18 or 36, you know to keep out of the way of the referee if you are already on a booking.’

Mentally buoyed by a combative performance against Celtic in the league last Sunday and a dramatic Scottish Cup win at Kilmarnock in midweek, there had been a sense of a team starting to find its stride after a horrendous sequence of results following the winter break.

Yet following Campbell’s dismissal, the psyche visibly shifted and, with extra ground to cover, tiredness set in.

By half-time, a superb Billy Mckay header had levelled the score but whether the grumpy Aberdeen supporters would agree with McInnes’s assertion that a draw would have been a ‘brilliant’ result remains moot.

County hadn’t won away for five months and Mckay could scarcely believe his luck as he was granted the space to run in behind and claim a second, winning goal with two minutes to spare.

Aberdeen have now dropped a staggering 21 points at home and, on that form, the real wonder is not that they now trail third-place Motherwell but the fact there is only a point in it.

McInnes’s decision to drop Sam Cosgrove for the game at Hamilton had proved the catalyst for the Dons’ recent mini-revival but after scoring at Killie from the bench, the big Englishman was back in for this one, paired with Curtis Main in attack.

You wouldn’t attribute their link-up for the opening goal to any kind of telepathic understanding — it was too agricultural for that — yet simply having the two of them around the penalty box served to bludgeon Aberdeen into the lead.

Callum Morris’s miscued clearance sent the ball spiralling into the air and it was Cosgrove who jumped strongest to head down, with Main waiting to turn home a poacher’s finish.

Campbell’s departure did not instantly slow down the hosts and they might have edged further in front when Cosgrove bore down on goal only to be blocked by an alert piece of goalkeeping from Ross Laidlaw.

Mckay’s headed equaliser was a delight and was enjoyed by set-up man Richard Foster more than anyone. The former Aberdeen player had been taking his usual dose of stick from the home fans but it only served to inspire him to sweep over a perfect left-footed cross that was met by Mckay near the penalty spot.

The striker’s finish had Joe Lewis in trouble from the moment it left his head but McInnes could only question the whereabouts of twin defensive pillars Ash Taylor and Scott McKenna at the vital moment.

Lewis made smart stops to deny Mckay and Lee Erwin in quick succession and later turned over a deflected shot from Josh Mullin.

Ultimately, the most important bit of goalkeeping came at the other end as Laidlaw denied Niall McGinn on the rebound from a Lewis Ferguson shot that hit the post.

Had Aberdeen got their noses back in front, you might have expected them to see the game out. Instead, it was County who struck the killer blow thanks to Mckay’s second piece of goalscoring magic.

This time it was all about his movement to latch on to a lovely pass from Don Cowie. The left-foot angled finish into the corner wasn’t bad either.

‘It’s not a brilliant run from Mckay but it’s a brilliant finish,’ argued McInnes. ‘He has done that throughout his career and was sharp and bright at that late stage in the game whereas we looked a bit jaded.

‘We are disappointed because it would have been a brilliant point and the players put everything into it.

‘They were clearly shattered out there. Since Ross County played at St Johnstone last Saturday, we have played 90 minutes against Celtic and 120 minutes at Kilmarnock.

‘I knew the fatigue side of it would be an issue and the last thing we needed was to go down to 10 men.’