Aberdeen player-coach Scott Brown told his team-mates they need to mix up their game following a toothless performance against St Mirren.
Brown had an effort cleared off the line but the Dons never threatened St Mirren goalkeeper Jak Alnwick during a 1-0 defeat in Paisley on Tuesday.
Connor Ronan scored the winner in the 61st minute with the only official shot on target during the entire game.
The Dons barely got in the Saints box in the final half hour, with a series of attacking substitutes failing to give them any cutting edge as the home team allowed them the ball while keeping them at arm’s length.
Brown admitted the Dons were lacking urgency high up the park and stressed they needed to earn the right to play away from home.
“They gave us a lot of time on the ball and let us have the ball at the back, but sometimes you need to mix and match a bit, sometimes you need to get it into the strikers, and it’s that fighting spirit as well up the park,” he said. “We didn’t have that.
“We came here last time, we were fantastic in the first half, and we thought it was going to be a nice easy game.
“The pitch started to cut up and I think it just didn’t suit us because it wasn’t inch perfect.
“Sometimes we are going to have to deal with that in January and February, and even March and all the way through, when pitches aren’t going to be great.”
Aberdeen missed the chance to go fourth in the cinch Premiership, for 24 hours at least, and saw St Mirren move three points behind them in the race for the top-six places.
Manager Stephen Glass confessed his side were missing a mental toughness in the game.
Brown said: “It’s not just that mental toughness but that toughness on the field, when to take the ball when it’s bobbling up and be brave and put your body on the line.
“I think we thought we could just turn up and if we won the game we would be sitting in a nice position in the league.
“It doesn’t work like that, you have got to earn the right to play, earn the right to go and win games.”
