ABERDEEN captain Scott Brown blamed hubris and failing to earn the right to play for his side’s 1-0 defeat to St Mirren on Tuesday night.

The 36-year-old said his side were not good enough on the night at the SMiSA Stadium as the Dons missed the chance to go fourth in the Premeirship table ahead of a full fixture card last night.

Aberdeen have now failed to win in the league at St Mirren since December 2018 and Tuesday night’s result only added to a meagre run of form away from Pittodrie this campaign – having won one and drawn two of their previous 12 on the road in all competitions. That win came at McDiarmid Park but, oddly, the draws came at tougher venues Ibrox and Tynecastle.

“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,” said Brown. “It doesn’t work like that, you have got to earn the right to play, earn the right to go and win games.

“St Mirren defended really well, they had one shot on target and scored a fantastic goal. For us, it wasn’t good enough: one shot on target, whether it’s at home or away from home.”

The game was won on the hour mark when Wolves loanee Connor Ronan added to his collection of spectacular goals by curling the ball beyond Joe Lewis from the corner of the 18-yard box.

It came between large spells of possession for Stephen Glass’s men whose front three of Funso Ojo, Christian Ramirez and Ryan Hedges – and the subs who followed – failed to get much change out of well-drilled charges of Jim Goodwin.

When asked what was missing from the performance, Brown said: “Just that little bit of urgency higher up the park.

“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. We didn’t have that.”

He added: “We have been behind a lot this season and always hit back and created chances and scored goals. Tuesday wasn’t one of those days.”

One of those matches was the previous meeting between the sides in Paisley when Brown equalised shortly after Ronan struck for Saints for the first time this season. Aberdeen even got themselves ahead that day, however the encounter ended in a 3-2 defeat.

“We came here last time, we were fantastic in the first half, and we thought it was going to be a nice easy game,” said Brown.

“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.

“It’s not just that mental toughness [we need] 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.”

The Dons will have to wait for the opportunity to start putting their away blues behind them as they next take on St Johnstone at Pittodrie this weekend before back-to-back ties on the road against Ross County and Livingston.