Derek McInnes insists the Dundee debacle reflects terribly on Scottish football.
And the former Aberdeen boss admitted he has every sympathy with James McPake after his Covid nightmare.
McPake slammed SPFL chiefs for forcing the Dark Blues to play at Pittodrie despite naming three goalkeepers and his 40-year-old assistant manager Dave Mackay in a 14-man squad.
Dundee went down 2-1 in the north east but McInnes believes the whole episode is a bad look for our game.
McPake accused league chiefs of putting lives at risk and McInnes told Sky Sports News: “I don’t think it reflects well on Scottish football, being involved in that situation.
“I can totally understand James McPake’s frustration and anger at maybe the late decision - maybe they got some encouragement the game could be off.
“It doesn’t reflect well and we want to avoid that situation (Dave Mackay on the bench) given the fact they didn’t have any youth players or other players available.
“The narrative is that his assistant manager had to go on the bench and it doesn’t reflect well on Scottish football.”
McInnes admitted the break is now coming at a good time with the virus on the rise and wreaking havoc with the game.
He added: “Dundee are not the only club to be affected by Covid of course in the last couple of seasons and the winter break is coming at a good time because of the difficulties teams have.
“I can understand the frustration from James. You go up to Aberdeen and it’s a tough place anyway to go and try and get a result.
“Managers like to be professional throughout their preparation so it would have been hampered by all of that.
“I have every sympathy because they put up a good fight but Aberdeen proved too strong in the end.
“We’ve seen other clubs play their young players - Jim Goodwin did it against Celtic in midweek and a lot of kids played for Dundee United at Ibrox.
“Sometimes you get a wee bit of a kick back from that because they get experience and it’s almost if there’s nothing to lose.
“There has to be something more definitive from the league to say what constitutes a game being called off and a game being played.
“If there’s 13, 14 fit players and they say the game has to be played then everyone knows that.”
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