Aberdeen and Kilmarnock will meet again on Wednesday, February 19 after their Scottish Cup fifth round tie ended in stalemate at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen’s hopes of a first win in five matches were snuffed out by a stubborn and resilient Killie as the Dons’ failure score for a fifth game in a row ensured the two sides will meet again at Rugby Park for a place in the quarter-finals.
Dons boss McInnes made five changes to the side which lost 1-0 at home to St Johnstone in midweek with Ash Taylor and Jon Gallagher missing out altogether while Ryan Hedges, Ronald Hernandez and Dylan McGeouch dropped to the bench.
Shay Logan, Mikey Devlin, Dean Campbell, Funso Ojo and Niall McGinn were the players who came into the starting line-up.
Killie threatened first with an angled Eamonn Brophy drive which went wide while the Dons best chance of the first half was from a free kick but Niall McGinn’s curling effort went just wide.
With the Red Shed roaring the players on the Dons dominated possession but the well-marshalled Killie defence protected their goalkeeper Laurentiu Branescu who made it to the interval without having a save to make.
The winds of Storm Ciara begin to swirl around Pittodrie in the second half, making conditions challenging for both teams, but both managed to test the goalkeepers at least.
Lewis Ferguson forced Branescu into a save for the Dons while Joe Lewis needed two attempts to gather a Brophy shot as Killie tried to catch Aberdeen on the break.
The sense of frustration led to more unrest emanating from within the stadium as the atmosphere within the Red Shed turned sour in the closing stages with some fans again chanting for the manager to go. Their request was booed by their fellow support.
