St. Mirren 3 - 1 Aberdeen

Club Academy Scotland | U18 League | St Mirren 3 Aberdeen 1

The Aberdeen U18s had a rare off day as they were comfortably beaten by St Mirren this afternoon at the Ralston Training Complex in Paisley.

The game took place on a new artificial surface which was almost unplayable due to the ice, and it was also a younger Aberdeen side than in previous weeks, but it was still a disappointing performance.

Aberdeen started the game reasonably well and there were a couple of half chances at either end.

The home side took the lead from the second phase of a corner kick after the Dons failed to clear their lines well enough. Archie Mair then had a couple of decent saves to keep the score at 1-0 going into the interval.

Second half the visitors did a bit better but lost a second goal on the hour mark. Things then got worse as St Mirren went 3-0 up after a good strike from the edge of the box that went into the top corner.

With 17 minutes to go Aberdeen did get back into the game when Michael Dangana was taken down inside the area and Tyler Mykyta tucked away the spot kick. The young Dons pushed for me another but it was not to be their day.

The one positive was the return of Irish youth international Luke Turner who has been out injured. The defender played the last 15 minutes.

Scott Anderson spoke to afc.co.uk this afternoon : "I would probably say that it was our poorest performance of the season, with the ball and without the ball.

"We have to learn from it quickly and move on as we have some big games coming up this month.

"The most disappointing aspect is that we have done well in recent weeks and the level of focus has been really good. But it was missing today. The players must learn that they need to bring that focus into every game."