Stephen Robinson impressed by Aberdeen’s second-half response against St Mirren

Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson praised the reaction of his players to secure the win that lifted them above visitors St Mirren in the William Hill Premiership.

The Dons had led through Brad Lyons’ superb second-minute strike, but allowed St Mirren to dominate the rest of the first half and claim a deserved equaliser through Eseosa Sule.

Aberdeen reacted strongly after the break and Kevin Nisbet put them back in front after seeing a penalty-kick saved by Jacob Chapman, before Ayoub Mouloua sealed the win with a clinical finish barely a minute after entering the fray.

Robinson said: “We started brilliantly. It was a cracking goal from Brad, who unfortunately had to come off at half-time with a reaction in his knee.

“We sat back and didn’t play the way we wanted to play, but we got a massive reaction at half-time. We changed it a little bit, but it was the mindset we changed.

“I thought it could and should have been more, and it’s amazing the way the confidence starts flowing when you score the second goal.

“I thought the subs were excellent and really made a difference.

“The crowd made their feelings known at half-time and they were justified in that. The players are young boys, so how do they react to that? They reacted really, really positively. They showed they can step up.”

Saints boss Craig McLeish threw the gauntlet down to his players to work their way out of a run that has seen them lose five straight matches.

He said: “It’s a frustrating one because I feel like we beat ourselves today.

“Fair play to Aberdeen, they got a great result and were clinical where we gifted them some opportunities, but we can’t go a goal down that early.

“It’s an unbelievable finish, but there’s no pressure on the ball when it lands and we have to take responsibility for that.

“How we reacted was positive – I thought we were excellent the rest of the first half, we probably should have scored a goal or two more. We knew they would get a reaction after half-time.

“They changed their energy and pressing, and we didn’t really stand up to that side of it.

“We know we’re on a tough run and we have to get out of that.”