St Mirren goalkeeper Chris Smith admits letting Gus MacPherson down was one of the hardest things to take about their Scottish Cup exit.And the Scotland Under-21 player is determined to make amends for the midweek defeat by St Johnstone by getting a result at Aberdeen.

MacPherson warned his players they were playing for their futures following the 3-1 quarter-final loss at Love Street.

But Smith needed no-one to tell him Tuesday's team performance was not up to scratch.

The 22-year-old said: "We need to produce every week and if we are not doing that then the gaffer is right to say what he said.

"Personally, it feels as though you have let the gaffer down and that's one of the biggest things, as well as letting ourselves down.

"The boys are hurting, I'm hurting anyway, hopefully we can get our act together and get a result in Aberdeen.

"It was a hard one to take but we didn't deserve to win, we didn't play well enough. Maybe it's a different kind of pressure that we couldn't handle.

"But we know ourselves it wasn't good enough and hopefully on Saturday we can make amends."

Saints were confident of progressing to the semi-finals having beaten Hibernian, Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell since Christmas.

A positive display in a 1-1 draw with Hearts last Saturday further increased their optimism. But after the Perth side scored three times in the first 28 minutes, St Mirren now have to concentrate on improving on last season's 11th-place finish in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

"It makes it harder that we played well against Hearts and I felt we should have won the game," Smith said. "We did really well and obviously lost a late goal but then we produce that on Tuesday.

"The boys know we are better than what we showed on Tuesday night and it's about putting that into practice on the park.

"The boys want to better what we did last year. We want to get as high as we possibly can and keep on winning games."

Smith, who has fully recovered from an infection that put him in hospital last month, will make a rapid return to Pittodrie for next Wednesday's Scotland Under-21 match against Finland.

However, the Saints number one expects to play second fiddle to Jamie MacDonald, who is on loan from Hearts to Queen of the South, for the UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier.

"Jamie MacDonald has played every game of the championship so far and he has been different class," Smith said.

"I know I may not be playing on Wednesday but you need to prepare as if you are going to play. I just want to keep playing for my club and if Scotland comes along it's a great thing."

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