Neil Warnock 'distraught' as Aberdeen win snatched away by St Mirren in last gasp defeat

What the Aberdeen and St Mirren managers had to say after dramatic finale in Paisley

Aberdeen manager Neil Warnock speaks to referee Nick Walsh after the 2-1 defeat at St Mirren. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Neil Warnock was left devastated after being denied his first league win as Aberdeen manager by the loss of two injury goals time in a 2-1 defeat at St Mirren.

The Dons had led from Connor Barron’s first-minute strike and looked on course to claim a first league victory in two months. But Mark O’Hara converted a penalty after Toyosi Olusanya was fouled in the sixth minute of time added on before Olusanya claimed the winner a minute later.

Warnock, whose only win in seven matches in charge came against Bonnyrigg Rose in the Scottish Cup, was left distraught as Aberdeen’s winless streak in the cinch Premiership was extended to 10 games.

The veteran manager said: “It’s difficult to talk as I’m absolutely distraught. The lads have given me everything and I’m so disappointed to lose in the way we did. You can’t go away from today and not be disappointed. We were on our knees and that’s how they should feel.

“They deserved to win that game. I don’t think they [St Mirren] knew how to break us down, not a clue. So it makes it doubly disappointing. The penalty knocked the players’ confidence and it was disappointing to concede again after all that effort. I thought that was the best we defended since I had been here.”

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson praised his players for their perseverance after coming from behind to win in dramatic fashion. Robinson admitted he would have preferred to have seen the goals arrive sooner but felt his team were well worthy of the final outcome.

He said: “We had 70 per cent possession and 14 shots – we deserved to win. It took a lot longer than we wanted to get the goals but it showed the character and quality of the squad with the subs we made.

“Conor McMenamin was outstanding after training only three days, Toyosi comes on and scores the winner, it shows the strength in depth. It was everything we deserved. We dominated the game. They scored from a wonder goal but outwith that they were not a threat and looked a team under pressure.

“We tried to get the ball down and when we did that we controlled the game. It didn’t surprise me. It would have been an injustice otherwise if we hadn’t scored. We got the penalty we deserved, arguably we could have had two more that were very close decisions. The players showed a great attitude.”