Aberdeen midfielder Peter Pawlett has vowed there will be no repeat of the panic which cost his side Premiership victory against St Mirren on Tuesday.
The Dons squandered a host of chances despite earning a two-goal lead and were made to pay for those missed opportunities as Saints came back to earn a point.
Pawlett said: “It is not like us to surrender a lead. We have to learn to see games out. We went 2-0 up and they got a goal back and we panicked a bit. We shouldn’t panic. We should keep the ball and tire them out.
“It was disappointing. We should have seen the game out a bit better but we dropped two points. We were down and felt like we lost the game.
“At 2-0 at home you expect to go and win the game comfortably.
“All we can do is look back at the mistakes we have made and work on them on the training ground. We have a game on Saturday to bounce back.”
Pawlett has backed vice-captain Mark Reynolds to recover from his handball mistake which cost the Dons victory.
Reynolds, who was called into the Scotland squad for next week’s European Championship qualifiers, scored the first goal against the Buddies but went from saint to sinner when he hand-led the ball in his own box with four minutes remaining to concede the penalty which allowed St Mirren to draw 2-2.
Pawlett had sympathy for the defender, but has backed him to react strongly to his uncharacteristic error.
He said: “He was down like the rest of us. You can’t blame anyone – we win and lose as a team.
“He is a great leader on the pitch and deserves to be in the squad. What happened against St Mirren won’t put him down because he has been terrific for the last couple of years and deserves to be there.”
The defensive slip at the end cost the Dons but Pawlett knows wayward finishing was every bit as important.
But with three wins and a draw from the four-match home run Pawlett believes his side will travel to Dundee on Saturday in confident mood.
He said: “We have scored a few goals in the last few games with the slight change in formation. We needed to score more goals at home because that is what the manager wanted. We are scoring goals at home but we need to keep the clean sheets.”