Lawrence Shankland knows Hearts were 'miles away' against St Mirren but knows his last gasp leveller could prove vital in the hunt for third.
Interim boss Steven Naismith described their performance in Paisley as a 'tale of two halves' after watching his side recover from two goals down to claim a share of the spoils. Aberdeen and city rivals Hibs played out a goalless draw at Pittodrie meaning the gap remains at five points with three Scottish Premiership outings to go.
Next up is a huge game with Barry Robson's men as they make the trip to the capital to face Hearts. A victory for the home side would reduce the gap to just two points and could take the battle to finish behind Celtic and Rangers right down to the wire.
READ MORE : Stephen Humphrys in early Hearts exit as Steven Naismith details reasons after chat with Wigan man
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Shankland knows the importance of his penalty stating it could be the difference between playing European football next season or not.
He said: “The point keeps us still in the hunt so nothing’s changed and there are still three games to go. When it comes to this stage of the season it’s important that you get results and this draw may mean the difference between playing in Europe next season or not.
“If you come away from home and don’t play your best – and, being honest, we didn’t – but still take a point from the game then sometimes you just need to accept that and move on to the next game.
“We know we were miles away from where we should be in that first half but at least we improved after that and did enough to get the draw. However, we know we’ll need to be better than that in the remaining games.”
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