Kilmarnock 1 - 2 Aberdeen

Aberdeen had narrowly beaten the Ayrshire side in the SFA Youth Cup so another close game was expected this afternoon.

It was another very young Aberdeen team that travelled to Ayrshire with Tom Ritchie, Calvin Ramsay, Andy Paterson and Michael Dangana all coming into the starting line up. Only two substitutes made the journey, with Jack Milne and Evan Towler joining up with the squad.

Injury to Conor Power looks to have curtailed his season, which concludes this week and his fellow Irish teammate Luke Turner is away with the international squad.

Unlike their last encounter it was a match of few chances.

Killie had the first opportunity midway through the first half with a counter attack, which produced a good save from Ritchie.

Max Barry, who has been in fine form since returning to the fold after a long injury layoff, put the visitors ahead just on the stroke of half time. A neat ball into the area from the wing was won by the head of Kieran Shanks and it dropped to Barry, who composed himself before firing home to break the deadlock. The two had linked up really well last week so it was no surprise to see it again.

It was a strong defensive performance from The Dons, despite the youthful look to the side. They were able to limit Kilmarnock to very few shooting opportunities and in the 67th minute The Dons doubled their lead.

Some excellent footwork from Kevin Hanratty on the half way line saw the youngster fire a weighted pass into the path of Shanks and he slotted home. It was the third goal for the striker against this opposition in the two fixtures.

The hosts were able to get one back only a few minutes later though when a long throw in caused problems for Aberdeen in their own penalty area and the ball was eventually forced over the line by Josh Walker.

Although Killie pressed for a late equaliser, it was The Dons who nearly killed the game off in the remaining minutes when Jack Milne struck the crossbar from a header. They were able to see the game out and collect a good three points against a side who had caused them problems before.

Full time: Kilmarnock 1-2 Aberdeen

After the match Scott Anderson spoke of the win.

"We're pleased with the performance and really worked hard for the win. On top of that there were a couple of bits of quality that allows us to get the goals.

"We looked to go down and be a solid unit and tried to get a clean sheet. We never got that, but the effort by everybody to try get the win was great. We were very young again with six 2003's playing and it's pleasing to see the younger ones coming in and getting a good win.

"Max and Kieran scoring again is pleasing. It's great to see Max back to where he was before his injury as his standard of performance has been good over the last couple of weeks. Kieran's scored a few goals of late and got one again today. He worked so hard so that was also pleasing.

"We end the season with Celtic on Friday. There will be another young team with the injuries to Sean Linden, Jack Chesser and Conor Power, but we'll look to take the positives out of day and finish off on a high against a good Celtic team."