Aberdeen 1 - 0 Hibernian

After three wins on the spin Derek McInnes made just the one change for the Friday night football clash with Hibernian at Pittodrie as Dominic Ball made way for Stevie May.

The match looked set to be played in very difficult conditions with high winds blowing across the pitch. The visitors were clearly looking to use that to their advantage as they forced the Dons to switch sides and play into the wind and towards the Richard Donald Stand in the first half.

Unsurprisingly the first opportunity of the match came from a long ball into the Aberdeen box from a free-kick. MacGregor got on the end of it and it took an interception from Logan to prevent the ball heading towards goal.

In the 11^th minute Aberdeen conceded a cheap corner when a misplaced backpass ran beyond Lewis. The Dons cleared the corner but gave a free-kick away on the edge of the area which looked like it would cause danger but Mallan's effort ended up comfortably over the bar.

Both teams seemed to be struggling to adapt to the conditions, winter had well and truly arrived. When The Dons did get the ball down and over to Mackay-Steven he skipped past Porteous and was brought down as he looked to have broke free of the defence. The challenge earned the youngster a yellow card. From the free-kick Bogdan did well to tip McGinn's cross clear.

In the 18^th minute Aberdeen forced their first corner of the game and almost got a shot on target when Wilson manufactured space just inside the area but his shot was deflected behind.

After the opening twenty minutes both sides looked to find joy down the wings with Boyle looking most likely for the visitors and Mackay-Steven looking promising for The Dons, neither goalkeeper really troubled though in the opening half hour.

Both wingers were playing with confidence and that was no more apparent than when Mackay-Steven made the breakthrough to put Aberdeen in front with five minutes of the half remaining. The winger pounced on a loose pass from Porteous and drove towards goal before hitting an early strike from 25 yards into the bottom corner of the net. It was a fantastic effort which left the keeper with no chance.

The Dons were boosted by the goal and finished the half strongly with Hibs having a wobble after going behind. Mackay-Steven's confidence looked to be rubbing off on those around them with his teammates surging forward and the half-time whistle came at a good time for the visitors.

The first goalmouth action of the second half came when a Hibernian corner was delivered to the near post, May's clearance was sliced and Logan had to be there to clear again after being in the right place at the right time on a couple of occasions in the first half.

That was a bit of a warning for The Dons and Hibs fashioned another opportunity from a corner minutes later, this time Milligan rose highest, but his header ended up over the bar. Aberdeen were finding it difficult in the opening stages of the half with the game very open in the middle of the park.

The visitors had a better opportunity when Shinnie was dispossessed in the middle of the park, Kamberi got onto a long ball over the top and knocked the ball past Joe Lewis who had rushed 25 yards out from goal to meet the striker. Kamberi was through but had too much to do from a narrow angle as he curled the ball over the bar.

The match had the feel of a basketball match as the game moved from end to end and the direct approach presented an opportunity for May. The striker got on the end of a long ball from Lowe which was aided by the wind, Bogdan came to meet him, and May did well to clip the ball over him but MacGregor was there to clear before he could pull the trigger.

Up the other end Slivka curled a ball low to the near post for Kamberi who got across Devlin, his flick was turned wide by Devlin who didn't know too much about it.

With twenty minutes remaining James Wilson was replaced by Bruce Anderson. Moments later Boyle got a dangerous ball into the box and it evaded everyone with Kamberi waiting at the back post, fortunately it was just out of his reach too, but he will feel as though he could have done better.

Stevie May had put in a great shift covering lots of ground to help his teammates, he was replaced with five minutes to go with Sam Cosgrove coming on. There was no real pattern to the play in the closing stages with both teams struggling to get a foot on the ball and play passes, very similar to the opening stages of the game.

As the match went into injury time Aberdeen made their final change with Man of the Match, Mackay-Steven leaving the field to be replaced by Ball. Added time posed some challenges for The Dons with Hibernian bombarding the area, a string of last ditch challenges and clearances protected Joe Lewis in goal as Aberdeen recorded another victory to head into the top half of the table.