Aberdeen 1 - 5 St. Johnstone

Aberdeen's unbeaten home run ended this afternoon as the Dons were beaten 5-1 by St Johnstone. When Easton's volley early on found the top corner you had a feeling then it was going to be one of those days. Even more so when minutes later ex Don Joe Shaughnessy, who had a fine game, slotted home his first goal for his new club. Aberdeen though responded a minute later when Ash Taylor headed home a McGinn corner, all this in the first 12 minutes.

Aberdeen then dominated as the pace of the game slowed but again they failed to deal with a corner and Craig's deflected shot beat Ward. At the start of the second half Aberdeen needed to get the next goal - but within five minutes of the restart Steven MacLean, who was outstanding again, had a double and the Dons were 5-1 down. Credit to the Perth side. They played very well and thoroughly deserved their win.

match report

Aberdeen lined up with Ward in goal, a back four of Logan, Taylor, Considine and Shinnie. Jack and Hayes were in the middle of the park with McGinn, McLean and Pawlett ahead of them and Rooney was up front. The scoring started at Pittodrie after just five minutes. Former Don Joe Shaughnessy, playing right back, took a long throw which went into the area and although Andrew Considine headed the ball away and out of the box, it fell kindly for Brian Easton who from 25 yards hammered a volley into the top corner. Five minutes later it was two.

Again the Dons were undone from a set-piece. This time Simon Lappin's cross was headed towards goal by Steven MacLean. The ball came back off the post, Danny Ward trying to recover the situation got a touch on it, but he could not hold on and the ball was diverted into the path of Joe Shaughnessy who had the simple task of firing the ball home into the empty net. Joe could not believe his luck.

Like last week Aberdeen responded with a McGinn assist and a Taylor goal from a corner. And they responded within a minute of the Saints going two up. An error by young keeper Zander Clark, in for the suspended Alan Mannus gifted the Dons a corner on the left, and Niall McGinn's delivery was met perfectly by Taylor. Although Clark was to blame for giving away the corner, the young keeper otherwise had a decent game and can be pleased with his afternoon's work.

After an incredible first quarter of an hour the game finally started to calm down and Aberdeen found their passing game. The Dons enjoyed a lot of good possession and Clark was well positioned to block a first time shot from Rooney at the near post after he had met a Pawlett cross from the left. And minutes later Rooney went close again. After a good sweeping move from the home side McGinn played a nice forward pass to Adam who hit an early shot that appeared to catch out the keeper and the ball just went past the post. Was difficult to tell if Clark would have been able to make the save if the ball was on target.

Aberdeen continued to probe away and looked the far more likely team to score but disaster struck on the half hour mark when St Johnstone scored a third after the Dons again failed to deal with a set-piece. The corner actually came about after a brilliant save from Ward. Steven Maclean's clever knockdown found Cummins and he thought he had scored until Ward made the save. However from the resulting corner Lappin's ball in was cleared as far as Liam Craig on the edge of the area. His low shot did not have that much pace on it but the ball deflected off a defender and past Ward into the net.

Pittodrie was shell-shocked.

Aberdeen did finish the half on top but credit to St Johnstone who were defending really well. On 40 minutes the Dons might have had a penalty after the ball appeared to strike the arm of Tam Scobbie but referee Alan Muir waved play on.

At the start of the second half Jonny Hayes moved to left back and Graeme Shinnie went into the middle of the park.

You still felt Aberdeen were more than capable of getting something out of the match but within minutes of the restart they conceded again. On 47 minutes St Johnstone won a slightly dubious corner. Lappin played the ball in and Steven MacLean headed home from close range. It was such a soft goal from Aberdeen's point of view. MacLean though, who is such a clever player, caused havoc all afternoon with his movement and physicality.

A minute later Pawlett was replaced by Goodwillie.

On 49 minutes David Wotherspoon was completely unmarked and probably should have hit the target but he fired over. On 50 minutes it was five. Cummins played a neat cross to the back post for MacLean to nod home. Again he was completely unmarked. That is the former Aberdeen strikers eighth goal of the season.

Aberdeen to their credit were the better team in the last half hour but missed some chances to at least make the score line more respectable.

On the hour mark Goodwillie scooped the ball over the bar from a corner. On 67 minutes again Aberdeen should have scored but Clark made a good double save from close range. On 68 minutes McLean and Hayes went off, Wright and Robson came on. The performance of winger Scott Wright was probably the only positive to take from the game. He has been in outstanding form for the U20s recently. On 70 minutes another miss from the Dons, McGinn played the ball right across the face of goal but no one could get a touch. And then on 88 minutes Kenny McLean hit a shot across the goal, again no takers.