St Mirren celebrate Mikael Mandron's clinching goalSNS

St Mirren celebrate Mikael Mandron's clinching goal

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin says he and his staff must "help the players more" after St Mirren beat the Dons to extend their winless run in the Scottish Premiership to 13 games.

Buddies strike pair Toyosi Olusanya and Mikael Mandron did the damage with two first-half goals at Pittodrie and Mandron netted a late third for an emphatic win.

"Me as a manager and my staff, we need to sit down and help the players more and we need to think how we can balance the team so we're not so exposed in some situations in the games," Thelin told BBC Scotland.

"I have to work a lot with that and help the players to rebalance the team. It's a collective thing and I am the manager, I'm responsible, so I need to think about how I can help the players to cope with demands in the games and so we can protect each other much better outside the pitch.

"The season is not over yet and we need to find, we're going to find a way to turn this around. It's a challenging time but we're still fighting in the table to try to achieve something this season and it's not too late."

Slobodan Rubezic appeared to ask to be subbed off in the first half and Thelin confirmed the defender "signalled he wanted to change and that's why we changed".

"I suppose so, I [haven't] spoken with him after the game," the manager added when asked if the defender is injured. "So maybe he feels something and that's why we need to protect him there."

It was an emotionally charged atmosphere, with a minute's applause being held prior to kick-off to pay tribute to former Dons boss Jimmy Calderwood, who died earlier in the month, aged 69.

The home fans who were clapping were soon looking on in disbelief as their team delivered a dreadful first-half display.

Olusanya was gifted an early opener following a look away now mix-up between Rubezic and goalkeeper Ross Doohan, which allowed the frontman to tap into an empty net.

Rubezic was then outrun and outmuscled by Olusanya, who cut the ball back for Mandron to lash in from 10 yards. The Dons defender was subsequently replaced by Alfie Dorrington as the break approached.

As well as looking nervy at the back, the home side lacked a cutting edge before the interval, although St Mirren keeper Zach Hemming produced a great double save to deny Topi Keskinen and Pape Habib Gueye.

The Dons were much better in the second half, with substitute Ante Palaversa, Gueye and Kevin Nisbet all going close.

But they were undone again by a long ball over the top, which Mandron got on the end of before sealing the game with a fantastic finish.

Beleaguered Dons continue to slip

It is hard to pinpoint what is going wrong with Aberdeen at the moment. In the first half in particular, they looked a bag of nerves at the back and offered little at the other end of the park.

That is a combination that is only conducive to one thing – not winning games and not winning games is something that has become an unwelcome habit for Thelin's side.

The Swede is being backed by the Dons board to overhaul his squad in the current transfer window and is very much seen as a long-term appointment by the powerbrokers.

After such a long period without a win in the league, the Swede knows he needs to find a way of turning the Aberdeen ship around - and soon - or a season full of early promise could completely unravel.

St Mirren can now think of European places

St Mirren are perhaps victims of their own success. They finished fifth in the Premiership last term, and sixth the season before.

With that perhaps comes increased expectation, but that should probably be tempered with a dollop of realism. There are a number of teams in the division with much bigger budgets than manager Stephen Robinson has at his disposal, so there will always be bumps in the road.

But when his side are on it, they are a handful for anyone - and they were on it at Pittodrie. Robinson's team were full of energy and intent, making life difficult for their opponents all over the pitch.

That is St Mirren back on the victory trail after four matches without a win in the league. And if the Paisley side can get some consistency back, there is no reason why they cannot find themselves knocking on the door of the European places once again.

What they said

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "Of course I believe in the players, why should I change that because we have a bad run? They have done all sorts of amazing things. We have some injuries, we have some situations right now when it keeps coming to the same things.

"It's always pressure as a manager. I don't think about that. I'm thinking about supporting the team and helping the team to be stronger and try to win games."

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "We've got our just rewards today, we've played as well as that previously but then ended up conceding a set play, which has been a large amount of our problems.

"You see the presence Zach Hemming gives us. People defended for their lives when they needed to be.

"What everyone will remember is the three goals, which were terrific, but we gave ourselves that base today that we haven't been doing previously, some really good stuff, really, really good finishes as well."

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