James Wilson and Mikey Devlin both netted spectacular long-range goals as Aberdeen cruised to a 3-0 win over Hamilton Accies.
On-loan Manchester United striker Wilson struck after Graeme Shinnie had already given the Dons the lead, with Devlin’s sighter beating Gary Woods on the hour mark.
It allowed the hosts to win back-to-back games for the first time since August, against a poor Hamilton side that struggled to lay a glove on Derek McInnes’ side.
The Dons made one change from the team that beat Rangers 1-0 in the Betfred Cup semi-final, with Max Lowe replacing Andy Considine who was ruled out with a neck injury.
Skipper Shinnie gave them the perfect start on eight minutes when the Hamilton defence was caught napping. Scott Wright rolled a corner to Shinnie at the edge of the box and despite a poor first touch, the midfielder was still able to dig a shot into the far corner for his first league goal of the season.
Hamilton’s first opportunity came on 13 minutes when full-back Aaron McGowan was afforded too much space on the right flank and fired a warning shot across Joe Lewis, clipping the post as it went past.
Any lingering nerves were settled by Wilson’s wonder-strike, with on-loan Manchester United striker encouraged to shoot by the Pittodrie crowd and he duly obliged from 30 yards, whistling an effort into the top corner with his left foot.
That seemed to take the handbrake off the Dons, with a neat flowing move following that seeing Shay Logan clip a right-wing cross back into the centre, where Niall McGinn miscued a volley wide.
Wright directed an attempt over the bar from just inside the area after Shinnie found him and it felt like the game was there for the Dons to put Hamilton to the sword.
They started the second half with purpose, with Wilson weaving his way through a retreating Hamilton defence, only to hit his shot straight at Woods. Wright took a dipping pot-shot soon afterwards as the young wide man continually tried to make an impression on the game.
Devlin found the net against his old club in spectacular style but he had a big helping hand from former team-mate Woods.
The centre-back was urged to shoot from 35 yards and he let fly, with the ball seeming to swerve close to Woods and the Accies stopper parried it inside the post.
Aberdeen almost got a fourth on 68 minutes in identical fashion, as this time Logan tried his luck from long range but Woods succeeded in pushing the ball out for a corner.
McInnes was able to give young forwards Bruce Anderson and Connor McLennan run-outs late on with the game already decided, as Dougie Imrie was dismissed in stoppage-time for a second yellow card.