Aberdeen 2 - 0 St. Mirren

Dons boss Derek McInnes made one change to the side that defeated St Johnstone in Perth the previous weekend- Willo Flood replacing Jonny Hayes in midfield. That meant the Dons lined up with Langfield in goal, Hector, Anderson, Considine and Reynolds. The midfield consisted of Barry Robson, Ryan Jack and Willo Flood with Pawlett and McGinn just behind Vernon in attack.

The Dons- unusually shooting towards the Beach End in the first period- started the game comfortably and after a Langfield kick out held up in the wind the ball eventually found its way to Pawlett whose shot deflected off a defender and over the bar for a corner.

St Mirren then had the ball in the net but it was disallowed for offside. Jason Naismith fed the ball towards Stephen Thompson who fired into the net at the near post but he was frustrated when he turned round to see the assistant referee's flag up.

The Dons were enjoying decent spells of possession and on 15 minutes, Robson, Flood and Anderson were all involved before a neat turn and shot from Pawlett which unfortunately found the side netting. A minute later Aberdeen found themselves on the attack again and Scott Vernon capitalised on hesitancy in the St Mirren defence but dragged his shot wide of the post.

On 19 minutes The Dons took a deserved lead. A long kick out from Jamie Langfield bounced in the wind, Vernon nipped in between the defender and goalkeeper, poked it past Kello and then slotted the ball into the back of the net as the angle narrowed.

The Dons continued playing some nice football despite the atrocious condition- battling well for everything and largely winning 50/50 battles across the park. Ryan Jack was harshly booked on 28 minutes for a foul just short of the half way line as the visitors broke up field. Moments later a sweeping attack saw Considine tripped on the half way line by Jim Goodwin off the ball. However the referee played an advantage. He eventually booked Goodwin at the next break in play. In between this, Scott Vernon should have scored his second goal of the afternoon when Pawlett played the ball to Flood who set up Vernon for a tap in somehow managed to guide the ball past the post.

At the other end a poor clearance out from the back saw the ball fall to Paul McGowan whose right footed shot was well saved by Jamie Langfield.

HT 1-0

After the break, St Mirren started the second half well putting pressure on the Dons and they won a couple of corners. However, yet again the Dons defence looked on top form denying any threat from the visitors. The game then descended into a bit of a lull with both sides having decent possession but doing little with it.

Derek McInnes made his first change of the game with Jonny Hayes replacing Willo Flood in midfield.

Barry Robson played some superb passes throughout the game and in this instance lifted the ball neatly over the St Mirren defence towards Vernon but it trundled too far ahead of Scott who couldn't reach it before it went out for a goal kick.

On 63 minutes, Jonny Hayes had an effort at goal after which went wide of the goal however a few moments later the Dons did double their advantage. An inviting cross by Andrew Considine was played out for a corner kick by Sean Kelly. Barry Robson took the kick and scored! It was a great finish from Barry who used the wicked conditions to his advantage to give the Dons a deserved second goal.

A short time later, Vernon could have scored again. Michael Hector played a cross into the box which the St Mirren player missed. Scott pounced on it around 15 yards out, swivelled and shot- unfortunately for the Dons it went just the wrong side of the upright.

The Dons then made another change when Barry Robson was replaced by Nicky Low. St Mirren tried to apply some pressure in an attempt to get back into the game but there was no real threat to Langfield in the Dons goal who had little to do all afternoon. Joe Shaughnessy replaced Peter Pawlett on 85 minutes.

Immediately after that, Michael Hector pounced on a loose ball in midfield, ran 40 yards and fired a shot into the side netting as he was pushed out wide by a recovering St Mirren defender. The Buddies raced up the other end of the park and forced Langfield into a really good save from Gary Harkins as he attempted to slot the ball into the net.

There was time for one last effort for the home side when Jonny Hayes whipped in a cross which was cleverly dummied by Vernon. The dummy fooled Kello who was expecting the touch from Vernon but the shot hit the upright and bounced out.

Soon after the final whistle went as the Dons recorded their third win a row ahead of a crucial trip to Inverness next weekend.