Graeme Shinnie admits Aberdeen crisis is real as skipper calls on squad to stand up and be counted

Graeme Shinnie reckons the Aberdeendressing room is facing its biggest test – and from it Jimmy Thelin will see the true character within his struggling squad.

The Dons are now 13 games without a win in the Premiership and Shinnie is well aware they are on verge of undoing all they achieved in their unbeaten start to the campaign if they don’t get their fingers out and start putting wins on the board. Aberdeen didn’t play badly in this game. They dominated for long spells, couldn’t take their chances and lost some really bad goals.

Shinnie said: “It’s the biggest test. This is the time you see what characters want it and what characters don’t, so we need to stand up. There were some positive moments in the game but the goals kill all of that because it’s 3-0 but I mean in terms of the game we had, almost dominating parts.

“Getting in some good areas, we couldn’t get the ball in the net which is frustrating again but the goals come from split seconds. It’s not as if they have built up passages of play. The second one was almost just a hook down the line and so we need to sort those parts out, we need to sort it quickly.”

The confidence of the Dons team is shot. Some players are struggling to get out of the bit but Thelin sticks by them. There are glaring deficiencies. Slobodan Rubezic has been exposed so many times when the ball is put over him and somebody with pace gets in behind.

That was clearly something that St Mirren had worked on and provided some great joy. The first goal came from that avenue. Rubezic was in control and got back and headed it back but didn’t realise Ross Doohan had come flying out of his goal.

That gave Toyosi Oluswanya an easy tap-in. This was also a St Mirren side who had been struggling for