Aberdeen 3 - 0 Hamilton

A double from Andrew Considine and a strike from Niall McGinn delivered a comfortable victory for The Dons. Newcastle United loanee Freddie Woodman was handed a debut and kept a clean sheet with a steady performance in between the sticks.

As it happened

McInnes made two changes to the side that put four past Ross County in midweek. Anthony O'Connor came in for Kari Arnason who dropped to the bench and deadline day signing Freddie Woodman was given the nod over Danny Rogers to make his Aberdeen debut.

The Dons got things underway shooting towards the Merkland Road end. The first ten minutes were fairly uneventful, the home side controlled the majority of possession but the visitors, Hamilton Academical, were resolute in defence. Ryan Christie registered the first shot on target on 10 minutes, his shot from outside the area was on target, but lacked the conviction needed to trouble Accies keeper Gary Woods. A clumsy challenge from O'Connor gave Hamilton a free kick in a dangerous area a yard outside the penalty box on the byline, but Redmond's shot/cross was blazed high over the bar and nothing came from it.
Following a fairly quiet opening quarter The Dons began to tighten the screw and on 24 minutes opened the scoring. A reckless challenge on Christie gave The Dons a free kick on the corner of the penalty area. McGinn whipped in a brilliant free kick, right footed, which Hamilton failed to clear. The ball dropped to Andrew Considine who, with his back to goal, managed to swivel and smartly volley home from close range to give the home side the lead.
Following the opening goal the game began to open up and new signing Freddie Woodman was called into action for the first time. A mistake from Kenny McLean in the middle of the park allowed Accies to break, Skondras was slipped through and fired his shot near post but Woodman was equal to it and smartly saved. From the resulting corner the Dons keeper gather with ease. Hamilton posed a threat through Danny Redmond who looked dangerous cutting inside and firing a shot on goal which was deflected out for a corner. Just after the half hour mark Adam Rooney nearly doubled the Dons advantage, running through on goal he was met by Woods but unfortunately he couldn't squeeze his effort past the Accies keeper.
Aberdeen looked a threat from set pieces with both Considine, and Rooney having aerial efforts at goal following corners but neither could hit the target. The first half drew to a close with no added time and Aberdeen went in 1-0 up at the break.