Aberdeen captain Scott Brown told his team-mates to improve their mentality after a Scottish Cup exit at Motherwell added to the gloom around Pittodrie.
The Dons took an early lead through Christian Ramirez, but Motherwell turned the game on its head thanks to goals from Kevin van Veen and Connor Shields.
The home side had chances to extend the lead and ultimately triumphed 2-1 thanks to Liam Kelly’s last-gasp stop from Ramirez, who had missed a good chance not long after his opener.
Stephen Glass now finds himself under major pressure from supporters, with the cup exit coming on the back of the team slipping to ninth in the cinch Premiership and with a Premier Sports Cup defeat by Raith not forgotten.
Aberdeen impressed in a recent draw against Rangers and pushed Celtic in a controversial defeat last week but have now suffered four losses in five games.
Brown told RedTV: “Mentality is huge throughout football and you have to have that winning mentality, whether we are going away from home or at home.
“We do it against Rangers and Celtic, but we don’t do it week in, week out.
“We need to make sure we change that mentality and it starts right away.”
The player/coach added: “We had a huge chance, especially after going 1-0 up. We are losing silly goals after scoring goals and not being able to keep clean sheets as a team. Collectively we need to work harder from front to back.
“We had a couple of chances to go 2-0 up and we don’t take them. We are not killing teams off at the right times.
“We never looked like getting a goal to get back in the game and that’s the disappointing thing.”
Some of the 2,000 visiting fans vented their anger towards Glass and players after the game.
“The fans have been fantastic for us, the travelling support coming all the way down to Motherwell,” Brown said.
“They have got their say and I understand how they feel as well.
“We are disappointed as well and we feel for them driving all the way down to watch us and not getting the result.”
Glass admitted the defeat had ramped up the pressure ahead of Tuesday’s visit of St Johnstone.
“The one thing is we can put it right on Tuesday in terms of league position and then we are back at Fir Park the following Saturday,” he said.
“Things need to turn pretty quick. The season can almost dwindle away, if you like, or we can finish where we should be – up at the top end of the division.
“You can talk about it as much as you want, but results are what’s needed and the players know what’s needed to get them.”
Motherwell have now beaten two of the teams they disposed of on their way to their previous Scottish Cup triumph in 1991, having already seen off Morton in the fourth round.
Manager Graham Alexander said: “I think someone said that last year when we beat Morton in the cup and that didn’t last long. So let’s just focus on who we get in the next round.
“It’s a special competition. We all want to be part of history and win trophies, but there’s an awful long way to go. There might not be in games, but there’s lot of action to go before you get to the promised land at the end.
“But we will give it our best shot in the next round.”
