For the punters, this was an eminently forgettable 90 minutes, though Kenny Shiels, the Kilmarnock manager, brushed such an interpretation aside, choosing instead to focus on the slick passing game his side displayed in taking the point which eased them into the top six of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

His demeanour would have been considerably more upbeat, however, had Paul Heffernan, the Kilmarnock striker, placed the ball into the Aberdeen net rather than battering it off the legs of goalkeeper Jason Brown minutes from the end in the only really golden chance of a game that brought boos from the home fans at the final whistle.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," said Shiels. "It's according to the person and their perception of the game.

"We were short on creative edge. I wouldn't say it was a hard game to watch if you are into football but if you are looking at the game to see shots on goal and great saves from the goalkeepers then it was bereft of that.

"We had the best chance of the game but to go away with a point, there has to be a certain amount of satisfaction with that. The point has got us into the top six and that is a positive we can take out of it."

That is how the small band of Kilmarnock fans will have viewed matters, while those wearing red and white scarves could not claim to have been satisfied with their team's inability to exert any pressure on the defence of their opponents.

Indeed, Zdenek Kroca and Mohammadou Sissoko, the visiting centre-backs, will seldom have such an untroubled time.

For Pittodrie manager Craig Brown there was more frustration than he would have cared for as he pointed to an expectation, presumably from the fans, that, in view of their recent results, Aberdeen would simply have to turn up to win the game.

"The supporters have to be fair and understand that we had half our outfield team changed there because we have four first-choice players injured and we transferred Richard Foster," he said.

"It's too much to ask the team to click straight away with all those changes."

For a game that promised so much, the feeling at half-time was that things could only get better in terms of cutting edge and a need to see the respective goalkeepers put to the test. There was an almost total dearth of goalmouth incident in the opening 45 minutes, aside from Aberdeen's Brown being required to touch a Garry Hay piledriver from 30 yards over the bar, and then taking two attempts to deal with a Dean Shiels strike.

Those were moments that came against the run of play as Kilmarnock soaked up a series of crosses into their area and looked for the counter as they stuck to a game plan of their midfielders protecting their defence and hoping, if and when the chance arose to find a way to goal, that they could rely on Shiels and Heffernan to deliver.

Kari Arnason's control of the centre of the pitch was at times problematic for the visitors. The midfielder sprayed passes around and broke up several manoeuvres in spells where the home side had the upper hand.

If they were concerned by this, the Rugby Park side did not show it, and early in the second half Danny Racchi put a shot through the goalkeeper's legs, Brown grabbing the ball behind him, and then sent a chip on to the roof of the Aberdeen net.

In the end, it was Aberdeen's Welsh goalkeeper who prevented his side from shipping all three points.

Heffernan broke away seconds after he had almost turned an Aberdeen corner into his own net and would have sealed the points but for Brown's quick thinking in rushing from his goal to block the effort with his legs.