Dazzling Clarkson free-kick secures the points for Dons
Clarkson (56)
Callum Davidson insists his players need to be more ruthless in the final third after watching St Johnstone draw a blank in a narrow 1-0 loss to Aberdeen.
Leighton Clarkson’s sublime free-kick 11 minutes into the second half ensured the Dons took all three points back to Pittodrie.
The home side struggled for penetration across the 90 minutes.
Aberdeen goalkeeper Kelle Roos was twice called upon either side of the break to deny Graham Carey and Jamie Murphy but Davidson insists his team need to be doing more in attack.
The Saints boss said: “I need to ask more of my players in the final third. They need to be more positive.
“I thought our set-plays were pretty poor as well.
“I actually feel for my lads as they put a real shift in.
“We just needed to be more clinical in what is a tough league.
“We need to make sure we are winning that game 1-0.
“I thought we played well in the first half and even for the majority of the game.
“We were beaten by a wonder free-kick. It was an unbelievable strike.
“Once they score then they are able to sit in.
“It became difficult for us to break them down while they had loads of pace to catch us on the counter.
“We probably didn’t do enough at 1-0 down and were not quite good enough to get an equaliser.”
Davidson, meanwhile, questioned whether the foul that led to Clarkson scoring should even have been given.
Graham Carey was penalised for bringing down Johnny Hayes but the playmaker was clearly furious with the decision.
Davidson added: “I’m not sure if there was any contact at their free-kick but Graham is adamant he didn’t touch him.
“We also picked up five bookings and, as a result, we had to make a lot of changes with so many people just one foul away from another card.”
The first half was a tame affair as both sides struggled to create any clear-cut openings.
Bojan Miovski did have the ball in the net after 10 minutes when the striker headed in a Johnny Hayes delivery but his celebrations were cut short by the linesman’s offside flag.
Aberdeen dealt pretty well with everything that came their way at the other end, although Roos was called on to palm away a stinging Carey drive from the corner of the box.
Aberdeen were more forceful after the interval and broke the deadlock in the 56th minute with a stunning free-kick from Clarkson.
Just moments after going close with a low drive he flashed wide, the attacking midfielder curled a drive into the top corner of Remi Matthews’ net from 25 yards.
Aberdeen had their tails up and went looking for a second.
Ross McCrorie had a shot palmed over before the former Rangers man then fizzed a low drive wide.
Saints keeper Matthews then got down to Mivoski’s first-time drive and the striker connected with a Hayes cut-back from 12 yards.
The home side struggled for ideas in the final third, although Roos did well to keep out a Jamie Murphy effort from inside the box.
The former Rangers and Hibs man drove into the area before getting a left-footed drive away but the Aberdeen keeper got a strong hand to the effort.
Saints left themselves over as they piled men forward and Dons sub Shayden Morris should have capitalised when he was sent free in injury-time but the forward fired wide.