Brown believes a foul on Paul Hartley (grounded) led to United's opener

Aberdeen manager Craig Brown thinks referee Brian Winter will realise he has made a mistake with the first goal in Dundee United's 3-1 win.

"There was a foul on Hartley, who is blocking the driven ball," he said.

"So therefore it was very difficult to defend when your front-post man to protect the driven ball is pushed over.

"I think the referee will be a little embarrassed when he sees it, but I am not blaming the referee because I did not see it at the time."

Indeed, Brown thought that United deserved their victory at Tannadice despite questioning Barry Douglas's opening goal.

"I thought the better team won the game without question," the Aberdeen boss told BBC Scotland.

"We have no complaints about the score, but we have many complaints about our performance.

Hopefully we will regroup and be ready. This team owes these fans a result at the weekend Aberdeen manager Craig Brown

"When you lose an early goal like that, especially from a set-piece, it is very disappointing."

Dons goalkeeper Jamie Langfield allowed a Craig Conway shot slip through his grasp for the second.

"I was behind it and there was a huge swerve on the ball, but Jamie will be disappointed that he didn't save it," said Brown.

"We were very poor in the first half. We were second to every ball and the players did not perform to the best of their ability.

"But we must give credit to United, who were very sharp and about their business. They are slick and athletic and move the ball about very comfortably and we just couldn't compete."

Aberdeen lost defender Zander Diamond to injury during the first half, to be replaced with Rory McArdle.

"He has a very bad gash just above the bridge of his nose and the blood wouldn't stop and we had to take him off," explained Brown.

"That's a disappointment because he is a stalwart at the heart of the defence and then, when McArdle came on, he had the same knock at the weekend."

Brown expects Saturday's Scottish Cup quarter-final to lift his players and believes the club's fans deserve better for their loyalty.

"There can be no greater incentive for a team than to think they can get to the semi-final with a win at the weekend," he added.

"I am sure we will play better, but on recent form we will have to because St Mirren are doing very well.

They are not picking up as many league points as they would want, but they are a very hard team to play against and we will find that difficult.

"But hopefully we will regroup and be ready. This team owes these fans a result at the weekend."

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