Graeme Shinnie’s first half goal consigned Dundee to defeat in Aberdeen. The midfielder fired home five minutes after A-Jay Leitch-Smith had squandered Dundee’s best chance of a lacklustre 90 minutes.
Neil McCann made five changes to the side that was beaten by St Johnstone last Saturday. Darren O’Dea returned and captained the side, Kevin Holt and Sofien Moussa were included, as were Paul McGowan and Glen Kamara, who returned from suspension.
Graeme Shinnie was shown an early yellow card for catching Roarie Deacon before Kevin Holt nearly caught out Freddie Woodman with a half volley from 25 yards.
Shay Logan beat Elliott Parish with a close range volley after 21 minutes, but the ball hit Kenny McLean on the goal line, and the Dee survived.
A long ball from Darren O’Dea released A-Jay Leitch-Smith on the half hour mark, but he couldn’t beat Woodman one-on-one.
Dundee were made to pay as Aberdeen broke the deadlock five minutes later. Ryan Christie’s cross wasn’t dealt with allowing Graeme Shinnie a simple finish after Parish clashed with a Dundee defender.
Simon Murray replaced Sofien Moussa at the interval as Dundee looked for a way back into the game.
Parish made a fine double save 10 minutes after the restart, first keeping out a dangerous strike from Chidiebere Nwakali and then denying Christie from point blank range.
The hosts were dominating possession, winning several corners but they couldn’t create anything more than a half chance.
Christie slipped in Stevie May, but he could only shoot straight at Parish. May had the ball in the net eight minutes from time, but was adjudged to have fouled Kevin Holt in the build up.
Aberdeen saw the game out without the Dee creating any kind of chance.
Aberdeen: Woodman, Logan, Shinnie, Considine, O’Connor, McKenna, Nwakali (Stewart 71), McLean, Christie, McGinn (Mackay-Steven 90+2), May (Rooney 90)
Unused Subs: Rogers, Arnason, Ball, Cosgrove
Goal: Shinnie 35′
Dundee: Parish, Holt, Caulker, O’Dea, Leitch-Smith, Kamara, Moussa (Murray 45), O’Hara, McGowan, Deacon, Meekings (Kerr 78)
Unused Subs: Ferrie, El Bakhtaoui, Aurtenetxe, Lambert, Curran
Report: Andrew CreeganĀ
