Jimmy Thelin is refusing to lay the blame for Aberdeen's defeat to Dundee United with John Beaton after a late incident at Tannadice before Kevin Holt's dramatic winner.

The Red Army were left enraged when Dante Polvara was brought down under a challenge from Kai Fotheringham, but play was waved on by the official, who had earlier seen his award of a penalty to the Terrors overturned by VAR.

United charged up the park after the challenge on the American midfielder and scored when Holt headed a long throw-in beyond Dimitar Mitov's reach, and Thelin was left disappointed at full-time after his side failed to see the game out.

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Thelin said: "I don’t think we should think about these kinds of things. The game is over and they play and so for me, they scored from the throw-in. They are doing really well in that place down the United.

"They've done this the whole season, they're really strong in this part of the game. So I don't think about what happened and if we should have this and that. For me it doesn't matter right now."

Aberdeen are now eight games without a win although the positive for Thelin was a much-improved performance, writes the Daily Record.

He reckons if his team keeps building on that then results will turn. He admitted: "It's not easy when you get a goal against you in the last situation of the game and you lose it. There are a lot of emotions at that moment.

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"But I have to try to look at the last part of the season. Now when we have a run of no victories and also the last game maybe the game before that the performance-wise was not so good.

"But the way we competed today, we played close to each other on the pitch, helping each other better, taking the challenge in a better way, was a big step for us performance-wise. I guess you can recognise in the early part of the season how we want to look.

"Now we have to try to build from this platform and look forward, not look back. It's of course frustrating when we lose a game like we did today, but we have to also think about how the season is not over and we need to find a way out of this. It's no-one else, it's no magic trick."

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It was an angry away dressing room but Thelin knows that is a good thing if it is used in the right way. He confirmed: "If you play a game and you are in a bad run and you feel the performance is a little bit better in a difficult away game, and then you lose in the goal line, of course it's a lot of emotions.

"You have to feel some drive, anger, passion. You're fighting hard and then you lose everything in the last second of the game. But right now, for me and everybody else, we have to refocus on the next game because it's coming quickly. We can't stay in this moment. We need to try to build up the energy again and get strong at the top of the league."

The Dons are interested in signing Latvian captain Kristers Tobers of Grasshoppers but the manager refused to comment on the speculation. He was asked for an update but said: "No, I can't. That's all I can say."