Derek McInnes "gutted" by abuse from Aberdeen fans

| 26 January 2020

The Dons have not scored in open play for three games.

Derek McInnes admitted he was "gutted" to hear Aberdeen fans urging him to leave the club at the end of the goalless draw at St Mirren.

The Dons struggled to break down their opponents as they failed to score from open play for a third game in a row.

A section of the away fans chanted for McInnes to "get to f***" and the manager said that was difficult for him to hear after almost seven years in charge.

He said: "I can't pretend otherwise, I am (disappointed by the abuse). But that's the way it is. I don't think it was a lot of them but it was enough to be heard.

"We're all human at the end of the day. I'm a bit gutted by it. But you don't sign up to be Aberdeen manager to be popular. If results don't come you expect criticism – it's the same at any bigger club.

"I'm confident in the players. Hopefully we can keep making improvements in the second half of the season. I'm confident we've got the squad here to meet the demands put on us and finish third."

McInnes felt his team ought to have had a penalty in the first half when Conor McCarthy fouled Sam Cosgrove in the box.

He added: "We should have had a penalty in midweek and again here. I can only affect the things I can affect.

"It's up to me to show the belief in the players and hopefully over the course of the season these refereeing decisions even themselves out."

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin was pleased not to be presiding over another "hard luck story" after suffering a string of close defeats earlier in the campaign.

He said: "Early on in the season we lost a lot of games and the majority of them were by a single goal. Three or four months ago we might have lost that game 1-0.

"So this was a positive point in the right direction. I'm just glad I'm not here talking about another hard luck story. A draw was probably a fair result."

Goodwin also revealed there had been interest from Hibernian in full-back Paul McGinn.

He said: "Jack Ross (Hibs manager) likes Paul and they need a right-back after Jason Naismith did his cruciate.

"There has been a bit of interest and we'll see what happens. There's been an enquiry and the ball is in Paul's court."