Aberdeen 1 - 4 Heart of Midlothian

The enforced absence of Tzanko Tzvetanov (virus), Paul Bernard (achilles) and Mike Newell (hamstring) saw Billy Dodds, Joe Miller and Brian O'Neil return to the starting eleven with the last named joining Toni Kombouare at the heart of the home defence and Gary Smith moving across to left back. The Dons once again showed the total Jekyll & Hyde nature of their character with a second half display which was as dismal as the opening forty-five was promising. It all started so well for the home side in front of an extremely healthy crowd of more than 15,000, with Billy Dodds unlucky to be adjudged to be offside when he drove the ball home with only eight minutes on the clock. In the twenty-second minute, the deadlock was broken when Dean Windass took advantage of slack handling by Giles Rousset to put Aberdeen ahead.

That was how it stood at the interval and the home support looked forward to the second half with understandable optimism. However, that anticipation lasted a mere eight minutes before Neil McCann levelled following a John Robertson back heel. Austrian Thomas Flogel then weighed in with a double before Gary Smith completed a miserable afternoon by deflecting a Robertson effort into his own net.

The result was a repeat of the Tynecastle scoreline back in August and inflicted on the Dons their biggest ever home defeat in the league since the inception of the Premier League.