Derek McInnes admitted that Heart of Midlothian missed the presence of Beni Baningime in the 1-1 draw with Dundee United, while noting the lack of stoppage time at the end of the game.
The Hearts head coach felt that a point was fair from the match at Tynecastle Park, but was left frustrated by John Beaton's decision to add just three minutes.
McInnes said: "I thought we didn't deserve any more than the point we got. I thought we worked hard enough for it. A combination of quite a lot of things went on there, we weren't quite at our best.
"I think it's difficult to be too critical of the fact that we're 12 games in, we've hit 30 points already, we're in the second week of November and we're still unbeaten. But there's no doubting that we came here with high expectations to get three points.
"I've got to accept we weren't good enough to get the three points today. I thought a combination of us not being quite right and Dundee United, I thought were good. I thought they set up with that counter-attacking threat with the two 10s and filled the middle of the pitch and broke from there. Sapsford leading the line well.
"I just thought the game was a bit too basketball-y. Normally, we have far more control of that at home and away. We have a bit more poise in our play. I think possibly we had one attacking player on the pitch too many and we tried to address that at half-time. I was hoping to get it at half-time without being punished for it. Obviously, we lose a goal on the stroke of half-time, such is the way.
"I'm disappointed that we weren't good enough to get that concerted pressure that you'd expect. I thought we were a wee bit emotional in the second half, a wee bit excitable. I thought we played last five-minute football for 35-40 minutes. We need to have a bit more trust in what we're trying to do.
"I thought the fans were brilliant, stuck with the team. The game was a bit stop-start. I believe the ball was out of the pitch for 47 minutes a day. We didn't deserve any more than a point. But how we can only have three minutes added on at the end? If that was Rangers or Celtic at the top of the league, rest assured, there'd be six, seven, eight minutes gone up there. That's a fact.
"I'm disappointed that for all the stoppages, for all the time that was taken for the ball to get back in play, that should have been far more than that."
Beni absence
McInnes confirmed Baningime will miss around four to six weeks with a hamstring injury. The midfielder picked it up late in training on Friday.
He thought he was fine on Saturday, but a scan showed a muscle injury. It is hoped he will back for the Rangers game next month.
"I thought we missed Beni, I'll be honest. That's nothing against anybody that played today. Sometimes you want players to play with a bit more penetration, a bit more purpose. But today we needed a wee bit more calmness," McInnes said.
"We got him scanned and we didn't get the results on Friday night because he did it late into the session on Friday morning. But I spoke to Beni on Friday night and he thought he was fine on Saturday. So we had kind of planned with Beni and the team.
"But Beni's never had a muscle injury before. I know he's had a few injuries, but he's never had a muscle injury. So he didn't really know what was happening. And then the scan results came back that he had a tear. So he was ruled out.
"But we've got good players here. Players have been champing at the bit, ready for an opportunity. So it's not just down to Beni, but I think Beni would have helped us today.
"But we're going to have to be without Beni for the next period of time. It's opportunities for others and we'll be fine in there. I'm not worried about that. "
Starting line-up decision
McInnes noted that he felt he had one attacking player too many on the pitch with his starting XI decision with Landry Kabore, Claudio Braga, Alexandros Kyziridis and Lawrence Shankland in attack.
He would make a half-time change with Kabore one of two players taken off.
"We played a front two of Kabore and Shankland with Braga in behind. That was the intention. We thought, try and get Harry and Oisin on the outside of their front two. When we wanted to press, we had Kyzi jumping from that side and Oisin jumping to the wing-back. At times it was all right, but there were too many times it wasn't.
"What we needed to do was look after the ball better. Every time we lost the ball in or around our halfway line or in United's half, United had too many gaps to play. I just thought we didn't look after the ball enough. That's on us. It's on me with the team selection, I get that. But I do think that we need to be far more secure with our work.
"I don't know if we were too excited at the start. We were just flying out of the traps. We needed to be a bit more in control of that. I think I said to the players at the end of the game, it feels like a defeat and there's nothing wrong with that. The draw should feel like a defeat at Tynecastle.
"I think they're feeling a bit low about themselves. All I would hope for is that if we're in a similar situation, particularly at Tynecastle again, if we're drawing the game, half-time, the onus is on us to go and try and do something. That we are just a wee bit calmer.
"We had the full support of the crowd today. They were brilliant. It's not as if we got anxious because of the crowd. I thought the crowd were understanding. I think there's a trust for the crowd, the way I have for the crowd, that somebody will do something soon. I just thought the good teams, the top teams, keep doing the basics well, keep doing the right thing and something happens for them. Whether it takes 89 minutes, 90 minutes, 94th minute if we've been allowed an extra minute. We just needed to stay a bit calmer. I thought we were a wee bit rushed.
"I just thought it's a lesson learned. We get our point, we take it. Hopefully, as I say, the next time we go to Pittodrie, hopefully we can get two points back by maybe getting a win up there and again keeping the whole thing going. But unbeaten after 12, we'll take that."
Halkett suspension
Hearts will be without Craig Halkett for the trip to Pittodrie after the centre-back got his sixth booking of the season.
McInnes said: "We should have got the foul in the first place. They're fouling Kingsley, I think, in the first place and we don't get it. But, you know, Halkett's going to get a booking. It was just a matter of when. He's going to get a six booking. Just disappointed that he now misses the next game. He knew it himself. We saw his reaction. I think it probably is a yellow card, so I'm not doubting that.
"But we'll get Frankie Kent back, we've got Michael [Steinwender], we'll get players like Jamie McCart, we'll get players that can fill in. So that's why we've got the squad we've got."
