Watch highlights as St Mirren win 2-1 against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

George O'Neill
BBC Sport Scotland

Aberdeen's unbeaten Scottish Premiership record ended in Paisley as Richard Taylor's towering header earned St Mirren the three points.

It is a first league loss in 21 games for Jimmy Thelin's side, who stay second but are now three points behind Celtic after they won at Hearts.

Rangers also move a point closer, and are now eight points back in third.

St Mirren, too, had been on an unbeaten run - three games before the international break - and raced out of the blocks against their high-flying opponents.

Toyosi Olusanya got in behind the Aberdeen defence from a long punt forward by goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe and kept his cool to slide low past Dimitar Mitov.

The home side were briefly reduced to 10 men when referee John Beaton sent off Alex Gogic for a heavy sliding tackle on Shayden Morris, but after VAR advised Beaton to review the incident, he downgraded it to a yellow card.

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin showed his dissatisfaction with a double change at half-time, bringing on Duk and Kevin Nisbet, and it sparked his side into life.

Duk posed problems down the left, and his cross eventually dropped to Jamie McGrath, who swept home to level the scores.

However, St Mirren stood firm, weathered the storm and slowly turned the tide.

Conor McMenamin had a shot well saved by Mitov, Olusanya fired just wide, but on 83 minutes, Taylor found the back of the net from Mark O'Hara's corner.

Duk hit a post with an audacious backheel soon after, but Aberdeen could not find a second equaliser.

Deserved victory for brilliant Buddies

Robinson spoke about how his side had nothing to fear from Aberdeen, despite their superb record, and his players played that way in the first half.

They made life uncomfortable for the visitors, pressing high, forcing Mitov into a couple of nervy clearances and almost scoring through McMenamin and Scott Tanser in the opening stages.

It got the home fans behind them and the buoyant mood in the stands was only boosted when Olusanya opened the scoring.

The striker showed what he's all about from the off, leading the press and generally being a nuisance. The yard of pace and composure he showed for the goal were that of a top centre-forward.

Much is made of St Mirren's defensive solidity under Robinson, but they played some lovely football as well, despite conceding the majority of possession.

Even when Aberdeen levelled, they did not panic and on another day they would have found the winner before Taylor's header, with McMenamin spurning a number of quality chances.

The nature of the performance was reflected by the number of fans who stayed after full-time to applaud the players from the park.

No need to panic for Thelin & Aberdeen

Thelin's down-to-earth outlook means there will not be an overreaction to Aberdeen's first league loss of the season.

The Swedish manager has stressed the long-term nature of this project since he walked through the doors at Pittodrie, and he will take positives from aspects of his team's performance in Paisley.

Once again, he showed his ability to affect games with substitutions, swinging momentum his side's way with the half-time introduction of Duk and Nisbet.

Duk in particular was excellent down the left, equally adept at hitting the bye-line or cutting inside, and it was his trickery that led to the equaliser.

Fully reintroducing the forward will undoubtedly prove beneficial in the weeks and months to come, and he almost snatched a point late on with his backheeled effort through a crowd of bodies.

The players went to the away end at full-time to acknowledge their support, highlighting the close bond that has formed this term with the fans. One defeat will not break that connection.

What they said

'In the crucial moments they were better' - Thelin after first league defeat

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "I thought we were very good, very organised but created a lot of chances and good on the counter-attack.

"Considering the form Aberdeen have been in, it has to be classed as a very good performance.

"We were unfortunate not to be two or three goals up, Conor [McMenamin] probably could have had a hat-trick on another evening.

"We've had our blip, four or five games where we didn't play well. We had injuries and off-field problems, so we're starting to come through that. The league is so tight so no reason we can't [finish in the top six]."

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "St Mirren came out in the first half much better than we did. They picked up duels and second balls better than we did which gave them momentum.

"In the crucial moments they were better, that's what we have to learn from.

"We have to focus on the right things. We didn't get in behind them as we wanted in the first half and that's why we made changes.

"I haven't seen [the Alex Gogic incident back]. I always trust the referees - they make a decision and we have to adapt to that."

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