Bruce Anderson and Lewis Ferguson netted in the final 20 minutes to give Aberdeen a comeback win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
Kris Boyd’s first-half penalty gave Killie a stranglehold they barely looked like relinquishing until Anderson’s intervention, which levelled the game with 17 minutes to go.
A week after his heroics at Hampden Park against Rangers in the Betfred Cup semi-final, Ferguson popped up as the match-winner again to curl home a free-kick from the edge of the box with three minutes left on the clock.
It gives Aberdeen their first league win over a top-six side this season, ahead of Hibernian’s trip to the Granite City on Friday.
Aberdeen made one change from the team that beat Hamilton Accies 3-0 in midweek, with Dominic Ball replacing Scott Wright in midfield.
Killie started on the front foot and had the first chance after four minutes, with Kris Boyd heading Stephen O’Donnell’s cross wide at the far post when he should have hit the target.
There was little to shout about in an attacking sense for the Dons in the first half, with a James Wilson breakaway following a Kilmarnock corner, in which he won his side a corner of their own, their most enterprising move.
Scotland full-back O’Donnell was proving an effective attacking outlet for the home side, fizzing a shot across the face of goal, before he played his part in Killie taking the lead.
He had made ground on the right-hand side to meet Jordan Jones cut-back, with his first-time shot well-saved by Joe Lewis. As the ball appeared to be rolling out of play, Shay Logan clumsily bundled Chris Burke over and Bobby Madden pointed for the spot. Boyd, ever a popular figure with the away support, buried the penalty.
Stevie May was called for at half-time in the place of Ball, to provide greater support for Wilson, but it was doing little to stem the tide. Burke had a couple of attempts over and Jordan Jones was increasingly finding more space down the left.
The equaliser came on 73 minutes and there was a great deal of fortune about it, with Niall McGinn’s shot diverted past a wrong-footed Jamie MacDonald by Anderson, who had been on less than five minutes.
With only their second shot on target of the game on 87 minutes, Ferguson delivered the hammer blow to Killie with a low free-kick that nestled in the bottom corner.