Dundee’s frustrating day at Pittodrie summed up a miserable season so far for the Dark Blues.
Chance after chance came their way but none were taken.
In doing so they passed up an even greater opportunity to put big pressure on St Johnstone after their poor home defeat to St Mirren.
Experienced midfielder Paul McGowan, however, says the performance at Aberdeen showed all is not lost among the Dens Park squad.
“I don’t think I’ve gone there with a team and had so many chances against Aberdeen,” McGowan said.
“When we put in a performance like that, you wonder how we’re in this position.
“But ultimately we haven’t scored enough goals or kept enough clean sheets. That’s been the biggest downfall.
“This is why we are where we are. We’re not taking our chances and losing goals. It was the same at the start of the season, dominating games.
“It’s a sore one to take. We didn’t deserve to lose this game.
“Listen, until it’s mathematically impossible we’ll keep plugging away. If we keep producing a performance like we did on Saturday, the win will come.
“We’ve got a fighting chance and that’s all we could ask for.
“If St Johnstone had got a result it would have been devastating but we’re still in with a chance.”
‘I’ve not touched him’
The deciding moment in the game came when Jonny Hayes went down between McGowan and left-back Jordan Marshall.
Replays showed some contact between Marshall and Hayes but McGowan felt there was little in the challenge.
Referee Willie Collum, though, pointed to the spot and Lewis Ferguson fired in the winner from 12 yards.
“He (Hayes) cut in but I’ve not touched him,” McGowan said.
Lewis Ferguson's second-half penalty earned Aberdeen a vital 1-0 win over rock-bottom Dundee 🙏 pic.twitter.com/fpcfMFMBCJ
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) April 30, 2022
“I didn’t feel there was contact and that he went down quite easily.
“He has come in between me and Marshy… I’m not going to blame each other.
“They could have had a penalty earlier on and we got away with it but it’s just these things that are going against us just now.”
Excellent support
Despite all that and no wins since February, the Dark Blues were still followed north by a noisy away support.
And McGowan was keen to hail the efforts of the Dundee fans at Pittodrie.
Dundee fans in the away end at Pittodrie pic.twitter.com/cwZzEAC0m7
— George Cran (@di_cranio) April 30, 2022
“I want to say a big thanks to the away support for coming as well,” he added.
“Considering the circumstances and the way things have been going, they’ve been excellent.
“I hope they were proud of our performance.
“If we produce that in the last three games, we’ll give ourselves a fighting chance.”
