Derek McInnes wants Aberdeen to learn from painful defeat

Aberdeen winger Jonny Hayes is a dejected figure at full-time

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes urged his players to learn from the disappointment of their last-gasp 2-1 defeat to 10-man Celtic at Pittodrie.

The Dons boss felt the referee was wrong not to penalise Celtic for a foul before the first goal and disputed the corner leading to Celtic's second, but acknowledged his own team's failings.

"We must look at ourselves," he said.

"We are disappointed with some of the decisions but we can still take more of the chances, deal with the set play."

The set piece in question was the corner kick awarded to Celtic by referee Alan Muir that led to Virgil van Dijk's 90th-minute winner, where he evaded his marker to side-foot Stefan Johansen's delivery into Scott Brown's Aberdeen net.

Television replays suggested the ball may have clipped Celtic defender Mikael Lustig's foot on its way across the line, itself the result of a first corner, also contested by the Aberdeen manager, where Charlie Mulgrew's shot was deflected by an Aberdeen player behind his goal.

At Celtic's first-half leveller, which cancelled out Adam Rooney's 27th-minute snap shot that gave the Dons the lead, McInnes feels his playmaker Niall McGinn was impeded as he moved to accept Andrew Considine's pass in the centre circle.

The manager told BBC Scotland: "Mulgrew has not touched the ball when he came through the back of Niall McGinn when they broke for the first goal.

"And for the second goal, for the first corner there was no touch from an Aberdeen player. They scored as a consequence of the second corner.

"It's always hard to take late on in the game when you lose a goal. It's harder to take from a set piece."

Aberdeen had created the better chances, most falling to McGinn, who hit the post with a shot, and they were in the ascendancy when Celtic captain Scott Brown was sent off in the 82nd minute for a second booking.

"It was a game we looked more likely to win than lose at that stage," added McInnes.

"We got two wingers on and played two through the middle and we got enough balls into the final third. I thought we might just run out of time to win the game, not thinking we would lose.

Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk stuns Aberdeen with a late goal from a disputed corner

"Celtic will know they were in a game. I am not surprised we went toe to toe with them but I am very disappointed we didn't make more of our chances.

"Credit to Celtic for keeping going. Van Dijk gets on the end of it, we should have dealt with it. They have gone home with three points when it looked at best like they might get one.

"We are a decent team. It's important we try to use the disappointment from today to spur us on to be better throughout the course of the season."

If Van Dijk's winner and the post-match on-field celebrations provided drama, there was more to come in the tunnel when Aberdeen defender Shay Logan was sent off.

"It was something Shay said in frustration to the linesman in the tunnel as he walked past him," explained McInnes.

"They took offence to it and they have red-carded him.

"Shay should have kept his cool. He, like the rest of my players, is a bit aggrieved at a couple of decisions in the build-up to the goals."