Aberdeen got their first win – and first goals – of the league season with a hard-earned victory over Partick Thistle at Pittodrie.
There were chances at both ends in an open encounter in which both sides tried to play attractive football, but in the end the Dons deservedly edged out the visitors to claim the three points.
A lot of that had to do with the generosity of Thistle though, as Abdul Osman gave away a needless free-kick to allow Niall McGinn to open the scoring with a wonderful effort in the first-half, before Liam Lindsay gift-wrapped the second for Miles Storey after the interval.
Sean Welsh was dismissed for Thistle late on, but they pulled a goal back in spectacular fashion as Chris Erskine smashed home a volley.
The Dons survived a nervy finish to come through in the end though.
Captain Ryan Jack was missing for the hosts with fluid in his knee, and the midfielder will undergo a scan on Monday to find out the extent of his layoff.
Ash Taylor, Jayden Stockley and Wes Burns also dropped out of the side that played out a goalless draw with Hearts last weekend, with Andrew Considine, Graeme Shinnie, Storey and Adam Rooney coming in to form a forward-thinking 4-4-2 formation.
For the visitors, there was brighter news on the injury front as Tomas Cerny and Lindsay returned to the line-up after the defensive disaster at Tannadice last midweek.
Erskine and Kris Doolan also paid the price for their part in that particular debacle, dropping to the bench to be replaced by Ryan Edwards and Ade Azeez.
Thistle started the game much the brighter with Azeez causing problems for Mark Reynolds and O’Connor, and they had a great chance to take the lead early on as Danny Devine met Stevie Lawless’s corner, but the defender was caught in two minds and kneed a weak effort wide.
Aberdeen responded as Shinnie won a free-kick on the edge of the area from Edwards, and Cerny had to fly to his left to palm away Peter Pawlett’s effort from the dead ball.
Rooney then took down a long diagonal that was misjudged by Callum Booth before teeing up Shinnie, but his shot was comfortably saved this time by Cerny.
Aberdeen were beginning to find their feet, and McGinn fed Pawlett cutting into the left-hand side of the Thistle area, but Ziggy Gordon made a great last-gasp tackle to block the winger’s effort.
The visitors passed up a glorious chance to open the scoring soon afterwards though, with Azeez’s shot being blocked into the path of Edwards who had a clear sight of goal from eight yards.
The Australian tried to lift the ball over Joe Lewis, but didn’t get enough height on the ball and the Dons keeper gathered easily.
As so often happens, they were made to pay for that miss soon afterwards as Aberdeen took the lead in the 28th minute.
Osman dived in recklessly on Shinnie on the edge of the area to concede a free-kick. McGinn took his time before striding up and curling a sumptuous curling effort into Cerny’s top right-hand corner.
A ball over the top then had the Thistle defence all over the place as Cerny was forced to come out to block from Rooney. The striker got up quickly to help the ball back towards goal, but the outstretched leg of Lindsay saw the ball slip wide of the post.
David Amoo then led a two-on-one breakaway for the visitors that saw him burst clear towards goal with Azeez peeling away from O’Connor into the area, but the winger was indecisive and his eventual shot was blocked by the Dons defender.
Thistle carved out the first chance of the second half as clever play between Edwards and Azeez saw the former eventually cross for the latter to volley a yard wide from inside the area.
Aberdeen doubled their lead after 57 minutes though and it was a nightmare for young Thistle defender Lindsay.
Under pressure from Shinnie, the youngster didn’t connect with his pass from the edge of his own 18-yard area, succeeding only in presenting the ball straight to Storey.
The striker had all the time in the world to roll the ball past Cerny via the right-hand post and effectively put the game to bed.
Substitute Erskine had a chance to drag Thistle back into contention shortly after coming on, but he fluffed his volley in front of goal after being picked out by Callum Booth.
To make matters worse for the visitors, Sean Welsh was sent off with five minutes remaining, receiving two yellow cards within seconds of each other.
The Jags midfielder fouled Wes Burns to pick up the first, and was shown a second by referee John Beaton for letting him know in no uncertain terms what he thought of the decision.
Erskine remarkably gave them a glimmer of hope though with a thumping volley into the top corner as the clock hit 90 minutes after a clever knock-down from Doolan.
They might even have had an unlikely leveller moments later as Stevie Lawless fired a half-volley on the turn just wide from inside the box, and then a corner for the visitors had goalkeeper Cerny in the opposition area causing all sorts of confusion before the ball dropped agonisingly wide off the leg of Kenny McLean.
ABERDEEN: Lewis; Logan, O’Connor, Reynolds, Considine; Pawlett (Burns, 63’), McLean, Shinnie, McGinn; Storey (Taylor, 63’), Rooney (Stockley, 88’).
Scorers: McGinn (28’), Storey (57’)
Booked: McGinn (65’)
PARTICK THISTLE: Cerny; Gordon, Lindsay, Devine, Booth; Welsh, Osman; Amoo (Doolan, 72’), Edwards (Erskine, 60’), Lawless; Azeez (Pogba, 76’).
Scorers: Erskine (90’)
Booked: Osman (27’), Devine (82’), Welsh (86’)
Sent off: Welsh (86’)
Man of the match:
Referee: John Beaton
Attendance: 11,049
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