Derek McInnes conceded that Hearts were punished for "playing with fire" as a third red card in five matches contributed to a 1-0 defeat at St Mirren.

Craig Halkett was dismissed for the Premiership leaders on 29 minutes for felling Jacob Devaney near the edge of the penalty area, following an error from fellow centre-back Stuart Findlay. A depleted Hearts got the better of both Dundee and St Mirren in January but they could not find a way to win this time as Miguel Freckleton's 88th-minute header consigned them to a third league defeat of the season. Hearts remain six points ahead of Celtic and Rangers, with the Glasgow duo in action on Wednesday.

"We've seen before in recent weeks about when we go down to 10 men, I think there's a belief there that we can go and get results and I think that showed in the performance when we went down to 10 men," said McInnes. "But we've got to own the fact that we can't keep getting away with it, you can't keep playing with fire."

"It's a red card, there's no complaint about that, but we caused it, we got ourselves into a fankle. We had two opportunities to play it forward, and we get ourselves in a bit of a state, and it culminates in a last-gasp challenge, and we've paid for it. From that point on, it was just making sure we kept it at zero for as long as we can and then hope for a moment (at the other end)."

McInnes was proud of Hearts' application after Halkett's dismissal but was left exasperated by Freckleton's set-piece goal. "It was tough because we put so much into the game," he said. "After we went down to 10 men, I thought the lads were everything I expected them to be. We restricted St Mirren to very little."

"The irony is the ball was going for a goal kick, and we pushed it by for a corner. Then we've just got to win a header in the dying embers of the game, and we get our point, which it would be hard to deny we didn't deserve based on the spirit and everything else. But ultimately we don't pick up properly, we don't attack the ball properly, and it's in the back of the net, and we end up with nothing for our efforts."

Former Hearts forward Ryan Stevenson: "Everyone will look back at the sending off as the pivotal moment. From minute one was pivotal. The way they started the game, it's the first time I've seen them this season as bad as that. The sending off was calamitous. In that video meeting, watching it back, they'll be cringing. There were so many wrong decisions."

"It was so bad, all across the park. They never held the ball up up top, didn't make runs in behind to ask questions. They were so passive, St Mirren won every second ball that bounced in the middle of the park. It happens. Everybody will jump on the bandwagon and say 'this is it, they're stuttering'. They've never been in this position. It's been 40 years since Aberdeen were in this position, none of us are used to this. If I were Derek McInnes I'd be saying 'you've got the weekend off, what a game to bounce back in with the derby on Tuesday night'. It's still in their hands. You can't be doom and gloom about it because they have to brush themselves down and go again but they cannot let that performance happen again."

Former St Mirren striker Steven Thompson: "There'll be huge twists and turns before the end of the season. Tonight is a blip for Hearts, but it's difficult to win every game. Between now and the end of the season, a Motherwell or someone else is taking points off Rangers, Celtic and Hearts. They'll take points off each other. Hearts have set such a high bar and it was strange to be so far off it. Sometimes, when you're not playing well as a team, you can carry two or three passengers. Tonight, there was far too many. It doesn't happen often for this Hearts team but when it happens, you can't win games."