St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson praised his “outstanding” team, focusing on the positives after a late strike against Aberdeen cost them first place in the deciding Premier League.
The Saints bounced back to a 2-1 lead thanks to a penalty from Greg Kilty and a strike from substitute Alex Grave and were just steps away from their seventh straight win.
However, a VAR view resulted in a penalty for a handball on Alex Gogic’s goal, with Bojan Miovski equalizing in the 10th minute of stoppage time.
St Mirren bounced back from a late strike in the first half when Johnny Hayes took a free-kick into the far corner in Aberdeen’s first notable attack in the 42nd minute.
And Robinson wants his players to quickly brush off the latest setback.
Robinson said: “I thought we dominated the game from start to finish. We created all the chances, but in some moments luck did not accompany us.
“All I can ask for is this level of quality and I got it. The football we played and the quality of the chances we created were the merit of this group of players. I would rather talk about them than about decisions or things that went against us.
“That’s all I can ask for from those boys who are very, very talented and I’m very proud of them.
“They think they need to score two more points, but in the end we don’t.
“If we play the way we have done in the last seven games, we will be fine. We controlled the game, we passed the ball very well and opened the way to the Aberdeen team, which spent a lot of money.
“They are a very good team, make no mistake about it. They are doing very well and very well in Europe, but we made them look average because of our game. It’s a good team, but the quality of our game was outstanding.
“All I can say to the guys is to keep going as we are heading in the right direction.”
Further drama arose after Miowski hit the net as the striker’s penalty was subjected to a “double-tap” VAR check.
Robinson, whose team scored two offside goals, said: “It’s always going to be like this throughout the game and things like that happen sometimes. It didn’t go our way. It would be wrong of me to make a comment as it wouldn’t be an educated comment as I didn’t see it from any great angle.”
Aberdeen were only a shadow of the team that drew 2-2 against Swedish champions BK Haken on Thursday in Gothenburg.
Manager Barry Robson said: “Above all, it’s a credit to St Mirren. I thought they were excellent.
“We have examined the entire field. But if you can’t win, you won’t lose. I thought we were holding on and fighting to the end.
“It was difficult to go from Haken to playing for the Scottish team. They’ve won their first six games this season and we’ve been on the road for a long time.
“I think in the end the fans helped us. We needed to get something from the game, and thanks to them we did it. We probably also received a few VAR decisions.”
Meanwhile, Robson said he was “totally” confident Miovski would still be at the club next week amid reports that Southampton were preparing a bid for the North Macedonia striker.