It is clear we have work to do in the summer

Everybody is disappointed. Without trying to make my players feel worse than they already do, the reality is when you work for a club like Aberdeen there is a demand to make yourself the best player you can.

We are professional in every aspect of our preparation but it is important we all grasp the opportunities that are given to us.

This was a real missed opportunity.

Some of the boys will move on to other clubs at the end of the season and loan players will go back. A lot of them will go through their careers and not get that opportunity again. It is clear we have work to do in the summer to build a more capable squad to help us achieve what we want to achieve.

The fact we are still talking about finishing second with five games to go shows my players have been very good in periods so there has to be some balance to this.

But Saturday showed that, of all the teams up there in the league and especially Celtic and Rangers, we can’t deal with three starters coming out of our team in certain games.

I thought the determination of the team was clear and the effort of the team was clear but individual mistakes cost us. But I can’t just blame the players for today. I’ll take responsibility for the recruitment of the squad during the two most recent windows. That recruitment should have been better and needed to be better.

The officials should have seen the handball in the build-up to the first goal. I don’t think the referee could see it clearly but one or two of the other officials should have.

While Dominic shouldn’t have stopped, the officials need to take responsibility for that as it was such a big moment.