ADAM ROONEY netted his ninth European goal for Aberdeen as the Pittodrie side comfortably eased through to the third qualifying round in Latvia, although they needed a brilliant penalty save from Joe Lewis, the former England squad goalkeeper.
The Dons were three goals to the good from the first leg and, although their arrival in the Baltic nation was delayed by six hours after the aircraft they were due to fly on had to be replaced after hitting a seagull, that was really the only drama they saw against Ventspils.
But they did require Lewis to make an excellent save from the spot kick just before the break, but Rooney had already had a goal disallowed by that point and he was make up for it by netting yet again late on.
Aberdeen came within an inch of grabbing a 32nd minute lead in the former Soviet outpost when Dons skipper Ryan Jack cracked a vicious 25 yard effort that thundered off the underside of the bar. Although Rooney nodded the rebound into the empty net, he was in an offside position.
Just when it seemed like the Dons were cruising to the interval with their lead intact, Ventspils were awarded a penalty by Serbian ref Danilo Grujic. Ash Taylor caught Aleksei Alekseev in the box with a late challenge on his foot, although the Russian midfielder made the most of it.
But Lewis dived superbly well to claw away the penalty from Antons Jemelins with his giant outstretched right arm and then followed it up by blocking Alans Sinelnikovs' rebound.
Aberdeen sealed a fine night when they claimed a late winner after Jonny Hayes wriggled free before squaring to Rooney, whose low shot squirmed into the net to clinch a job well done by Aberdeen.
FK VENTSPILS (4-5-1): Uvarenko; Obuobi, Sinelnikovs (T?denbergs 65), Paulius, Boranijasevic ; Alekseev, Ko?esovs, Reickis, Rugins, Jeme?ins; Karlssons.
UNUSED SUBS: Pavlovs, Zu?evs, Adigun, Zigajevs, Alfa, Svarups
BOOKED: Ko?esovs
ABERDEEN (4-2-3-1): Lewis ; Logan, Taylor, Reynolds, Considine; Jack, Shinnie; McGinn (Stockley 71), McLean, Hayes (Storey 82); Rooney (Burns 79)
UNUSED SUBS: Alexander, O'Connor, McKenna, Wright.
BOOKED: Jack, McLean, Shinnie, Lewis.
REF: Danilo Grujic (Serbia)
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