Aberdeen 1 - 1 St. Johnstone

St Johnstone made three changes after their 1-0 defeat at home to Kilmarnock in their previous game, Duffy, Craig and Kane all missing out, Ralston, Holt and the returning Stevie May all included in the starting XI on am increasingly blustery afternoon at Pittodrie.

Perhaps those conditions contributed to an extremely scrappy opening, neither side able to settle in the early stages, unable to put any constructive football together as the swirling wind posed plenty of problems.

Good work from Kennedy on the St Johnstone left finally created a semblance of an opening after 13 minutes, his cross reaching Davidson who stubbed his shot well wide from 20 yards.

Beautiful football from the Dons almost broke the deadlock in the 17^th minute, a clever switch of play and then good feet from Greg Leigh giving him space to flight in a dangerous cross. Sam Cosgrove got there first, lobbing his header over the goalkeeper, only to see it strike the post and bounce to safety.

Good persistence from the Dons finally found that goal in the 28^th minute of the game. Saints were penned in before Leigh, growing in stature with every game, drove forward to the edge of the box, a pass forward clipping Lewis Ferguson on its way to Ryan Hedges just inside the box and he slotted the ball through Clark's legs with all the calmness of a natural goalscorer.

It was due reward for the Dons who had been gradually increasing the tempo through the half.

It could have been two in the 35^th minute, McGinn skying the ball over from 15 yards after nice approach play from Craig Bryson and Cosgrove, the ball having dropped awkwardly for the Northern Irishman. Three minutes later, Kennedy put the ball well over the posts for a conversion from 15 yards out - nice try.

A neatly worked offside trap between Andrew Considine and Michael Devlin stopped a dangerous looking break for May in the 40^th minute as Saints gave a reminder that they were still well in the game.

That was proved two minutes later, O'Halloran given acres of space on the edge of the box to strike a low shot through a crowd of players and into the bottom corner via a slight deflection, the ball squirming past Joe Lewis who would ordinarily have backed himself to save it - a poor goal to concede all round.

HALF-TIME: Aberdeen 1 St Johnstone 1

The visitors were buoyed by the goal and , winning their first corner of the game in the 51^st minute, Davidson timed his run nicely to get on the end of it but made a hash of his header, directing it wide from 10 yards, a good opportunity. Gordon was the first name in the referee's book a minute later.

The Dons were opened up by a swift break from Saints, Tanser releasing Kennedy on the charge. He picked out Holt and then on to Davidson, Lewis saving a ferocious shot well at the near post.

John Gallagher then entered the action coming on to replace Bryson in the 56^th minute.

Saints turned up the heat around the hour mark, Aberdeen struggling to clear their lines amid a flurry of corners and an optimistic call for a penalty after May went to ground. At this stage, the visitors were looking the more likely to score, though referee McLean's decision to point to the spot when Kennedy fell over under no challenge in the box looked a bizarre way of trying to make it come about.

Thankfully he was overruled by his assistant.

Connor McLennan joined the fray in the 66^th minute in place of McGinn, looking to replicate his impact for Scotland's Under 21s against Croatia in midweek. With the game in danger of petering out, wright replaced O'Halloran for the visiting side in the 77^th minute. Ralston was booked for a foul on Funso Ojo almost immediately thereafter.

Ojo could not continue after treatment and was replaced by James Wilson in the 80^th minute. May was then replaced by Hendry two minutes later as the game continued to drift, Saints digging in to ensure that the Dons could find neither time nor space to create anything of note.

Wotherspoon for Kennedy was the last change of the game as we headed into three minutes of stoppage time. Ferguson won the Dons a free-kick some 30 yards out from goal, the final throw of the dice.

Ferguson took it himself, his powerful effort taking a hefty deflection that looked as if it might take it into the net, lark hurling himself to his left to claw the ball away, a terrific save.

An afternoon where the blowy conditions did little to help either side, but one in which neither team could find the quality to overcome them.