by Colin Orr at Pittodrie Stadium

ST MIRREN boss Gus MacPherson admitted Aberdeen's free-kick specialist Charlie Mulgrew made the difference between the teams at Pittodrie today.

The Dons full-back curled home a sensational winner two minutes from the end to wrench a point from St Mirren in a game that looked destined to end nil-nil.

Gus said: "I am disappointed - I thought we deserved something from the game. I thought the first half was as well as we have played in that last couple of games.

"We played pretty confidently and the only time we looked in trouble was from Charlie Mulgrew's set-pieces but he was allowed into an area where he is a real threat and he punished us.

"He's a guy that can hit them either way and it's the pace and accuracy he generates. He's scored a lot of goals from set-pieces and his delivery from wider areas is high quality."

The Saints gaffer was unhappy with the performance of referee Craig Thomson, although he was unwilling to go into too much detail in his criticism of the Paisley whistler.

St Mirren's players had been unhappy with the decision to award of the free-kick converted by Mulgrew and Lee Mair was ordered off for apparent dissent in the aftermath of the goal.

Gus said: "There's no point in talking about it or giving our view on the referee's performance because he is the top referee in the country and he is untouchable.

"I'm disappointed with a few things and that's all I'll say about it. But by his own admission he doesn't enjoy doing St Mirren games and you'll have to ask him why he has said that in the past."

Aberdeen gaffer Mark McGhee was, understandably, in a more talkative mood, and he also paid tribute to the goalscorer, while admitting he thought his team were worthy of the win.

He said: "I thought we just about deserved to win it although we weren't as fluid as I would have liked.

"I was screaming from the side about keeping our shape and keeping the belief that if we kept playing the way we were playing it would get us a goal.

"I really believed the worst that would happen was we would draw nil-nil and I think we earned the result.

"We have a trump card in Charlie in that his left foot is a magic wand and a free kick is as good as a penalty with him.

"I thought when we got the free-kick the most likely outcome was that it would be in the back of the net.

"I had a view of the decision but my contact lenses are dodgy. I've got the same optician as Arsene Wenger."

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