Peter Leven says he's to blame for Graeme Shinnie's red card in Aberdeen's defeat to Kilmarnock

Aberdeen interim boss Peter Leven took the blame for Graeme Shinnie’s sending off in Saturday’s dismal 3-0 William Hill Premiership defeat at Kilmarnock.

The visitors were already two down at Rugby Park thanks to first-half goals from Brad Lyons and Bruce Anderson before the captain was shown a straight red card early in the second period for a dangerous tackle on Greg Kiltie.

Aberdeen’s day quickly went from bad to worse, with Tyreece John-Jules curling home a stunning third on the hour mark to seal a thoroughly-deserved three points for the hosts.

Shinnie had been walking a tightrope having been booked in the opening stages and Leven admitted he should have removed his skipper from the action at the break.

“That’s on me,” he said. “I should have done it at half-time but I just thought the last few minutes of the first half, we got a wee bit of momentum.

“I thought, ‘OK, do it (after) maybe ten to 15 minutes in the second half’.

“Then obviously, in the first five minutes, he goes.”

Leven was furious with the attitude shown by his players at the weekend and insisted they had let both themselves and the supporters down.

And although the Dons have yet to appoint a manager following the sacking of Jimmy Thelin on January 4, the man in charge against Killie said the uncertainty around the club was no excuse for what his side produced in Ayrshire.

“They’ve still got to turn up,” he said. “They’re playing for the badge.

“The support here today is probably the best I’ve seen it since I’ve been here and we’ve let them down.

“So it doesn’t matter if I’m here or a manager is here, you’ve got to show self-pride. You’ve got to do that every game and every training session.

“I thought they (Kilmarnock) wanted it more and that’s concerning for me.”

Neil McCann was delighted to see his second-bottom side pick up their first Premiership win since October and has now challenged them to maintain those standards and start climbing the table.

“There’s loads more in this group,” he said. “I always felt that there was more to come.

“Even the group that was built before me coming in here and the run they were on, I always felt there was more to show.

“But look, it’s just one result. It’s hard not to get carried away because it’s been so long and that’s why (assistant manager) Billy (Dodds) and I asked the players to go round the fans – because they’ve suffered a long time – and share the result with them.

“I think they were so professional when Aberdeen went down to 10 men to take the sting out of them and then we could have scored a lot more.

“But I thought everybody to a man looked really hungry to give that type of performance to get that win.”