Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes praised the quality of the youngsters in his squad after his patched-up side overcame St Mirren 4-1 at Pittodrie.

McInnes was forced into four changes from the side that lost 1-0 to Celtic last week, and it was three young players who were drafted in that bagged the goals that won the match.

Sam Cosgrove scored twice, while Connor McLennan and Max Lowe were also on target.

He said “It’s been a tough week. We were hopeful we’d have a couple more players to choose from, but they clearly weren’t ready. That was four of the starting 11 last week, but to have such an emphatic victory with loads of positives, I’ve got to be pleased.

“We’ll get a few back before the next game and hopefully be better again. I’ve not been able to play the same team twice in a row this season, and I’ve not been able to get a back four together and that familiarity is always important.

“The youngsters have had to play their part and be more prominent for us which is such a good thing for us in the long term. We’ve never used so many youngsters, and the performances give us encouragement and gives me comfort that we can be dependent on the youngsters at the right times.”

St Mirren boss Oran Kearney was understandably disappointed with his side’s defeat, saying “It’s very disappointing. Particularly away from home you come with a game plan and try to implement that. We know Aberdeen are generally quick starters and I thought for 20-25 minutes we negated that.

“We spoke to the players before the game and said when we get to that point it shouldn’t be a breath of relief that we’ve got there, but we should try to impose ourselves and do a bit of damage ourselves, but it’s disappointing the way things went after we got to that stage.

“Goals bring adrenaline and I thought the crowd were starting to get anxious and the goal gave them a lift. It’s so important that you react to that and sadly we didn’t do that today.”