McInnes rues lack of quality as Dons and Saints draw blank

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes said his side did not show enough quality to beat St Johnstone after the sides battled out a 0-0 draw at Pittodrie.

The result was in sharp contrast to the clinical 5-1 win over Kilmarnock in midweek and it saw the Dons slip to four points behind second-place Rangers in the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership standings.

The Dons boss did not shy away from the fact it was a below par performance from his side and said: It was a huge contrast from Tuesday where I think we showed a lot of our attacking threat.

It was always a bit of a risk playing so many attacking players in the opening period, and I don't think we got our game going with any real rhythm.

When did move the ball and brought pace to the game, we moved them about and looked like we could carry a threat, but I don't think we got into enough good attacking positions.

I think St Johnstone had a good game plan and they carried a threat on the counter attack.

We had to try and overcome that, but even with the changes we made at half time I don't think we got into the areas to score one goal, let alone the five we got the other night.

You have to credit St Johnstone. They denied us space and worked hard to keep us away from goal. It's not just about us - there's an opponent there and I think St Johnstone played well today.''

Saints boss Tommy Wright was delighted with his side's performance but felt they were unlucky not to take the three points with David Wotherspoon's later free-kick turned onto the post by Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis.

Wright said: I thought over the piece we probably could have edged it, but we're happy with the point.

We're slightly disappointed it wasn't all three because even in the first half we had the better chances, and in the second half we had the better chances.

David's free-kick was unfortunate not to go in but at least we didn't concede a late goal, because it was reminiscent of the League Cup game.

It was a really good performance both individually and collectively. Tactically we were spot-on, and Aberdeen had to change their shape.

It was another good away performance. We've been to Ibrox now and probably should have won, been to Hearts and should have won, and been up here and should have won.''