Aberdeen held their nerve in a penalty shootout to advance to the last four of the Betfred Cup against Hibernian.
After a tense and goal-less 120 minutes, sudden-death spot-kicks provided added drama and with the shootout tilted 6-5 in the Dons’ favour, Thomas Agyepong smashed the underside of the crossbar.
It hands Aberdeen a chance to make the final by giving them a place in the semis next month, with the remaining three ties to be played on Wednesday night.
Manager Derek McInnes kept faith with Sam Cosgrove and James Wilson in attack, with his only change being Max Lowe coming in on the left side for Niall McGinn.
The Dons were at Easter Road a month ago and came away with a 1-1 draw, after Jamie MacLaren cancelled out Tommie Hoban’s opener late on.
The visitors nearly took the lead through another defender this time, with less than three minutes on the clock when Andy Considine saw a goal-bound attempt cleared off the line by Mark Milligan.
Considine and Joe Lewis were stranded for Hibernian’s first attempt on goal which really should have given them the lead on eight minutes. Oli Shaw found Florian Kamberi, who evaded the challenge of Considine and rounded a stretching Lewis but instead of shooting immediately, he tried to reverse on to his right foot and diverted his shot wide of the open goal.
The home side dominated large spells of the league encounter in the capital last month and were finding their groove early, with Stevie Mallan and Emerson Hyndman combining well on the edge of the Dons box but the on-loan Bournemouth man was unable to find the target.
Wilson was creating problems for the Hibees with his movement and touches of class and won a free-kick 25 yards from goal out of Paul Hanlon. Dominic Ball stood over it and came agonisingly close to delivering his first Aberdeen goal, with his shot cannoning off the underside of the crossbar.
The contest was bubbling away nicely, with Hyndman coming to the fore for Neil Lennon’s side and drawing a parry from Lewis that came close to creeping inside his near post.
Martin Boyle, who hails from Aberdeen, grew into the game as the first half wore on, seeing an effort chalked off for handball and screwing another attempt horribly wide after Hyndman superbly picked him out.
Aberdeen had weathered a late storm in the first half and started the second period with intent, as Mackay-Steven tested Bogdan with a low strike following Cosgrove’s pass.
Kamberi was a nuisance all night for the Dons defence and threatened again before the hour, this time bamboozling Devlin and skipping away from Scott McKenna, before lifting his shot over the top.
Lewis had to be alert to thwart Hanlon from an in-swinging free-kick and Kamberi ought to have done better from Boyle’s right-wing cross, rather than slicing his shot away from goal.
Boyle had a second goal disallowed, this time for offside, and Oli Shaw missed wide of the far post as extra-time beckoned.
Substitute Stevie May failed to make the most of Chris Forrester’s through ball as he connected poorly with his effort when facing up Bogdan, in the early throws of the extra period.
Niall McGinn blazed over when Ball played him in and Ryan Porteous had a header blocked by Considine, as the game lurched towards penalties.
Sudden-death was required to separate the two sides, with Agyepong hitting the underside of the crossbar to hand the Dons a place in the last four.