Joe Lewis saved a late penalty as Aberdeen got back to winning ways with a hard fought 2-1 win against St Mirren at Pittodrie.
Struggling Saints belied their lowly league position to cause the Dons problems in the Granite City but Aberdeen’s finishing proved the difference between the sides in a keenly contested encounter.
Dons boss Derek McInnes made three changes to the side which was held 1-1 by nine-man St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Sunday.
Shay Logan, Mikey Devlin and Curtis Main all dropped to the bench with Zak Vyner, Jon Gallagher and Dean Campbell brought into the starting line-up.
St Mirren created a great chance to open the scoring in the first minute when Tony Andreu ran clear of the Dons defence only to see his effort saved by Joe Lewis.
Aberdeen responded by taking the lead in the sixth minute, Sam Cosgrove curling a left footed strike past Vaclav Hladky for his 18th goal of the season after Saints had failed to clear a Ryan Hedges cross.
Lewis Ferguson wasted a great chance to double his side’s lead when he directed a six-yard diving header wide and his miss proved crucial as Saints equalised midway through the first half thanks to a neat finish from striker Jonathan Obika from Ryan Flynn’s low cross.
Cosgrove had a header cleared off the line as the Dons tried to regain the lead before the break with Sean McLoughlin also went close for the visitors.
Hedges fired just wide at the start of the second half as the Dons came out strong after the interval and their energetic opening was rewarded when Hedges crossed for Niall McGinn to fire the ball high into the net in the 55th minute to make it 2-1.
It looked like that would be the end of proceedings but Lewis conceded a penalty six minutes from time after Obika went down under a challenge from the Dons goalkeeper.
However the Aberdeen captain made amends by saving Andreu’s spot kick before also saving the rebound to earn his side victory.
