Aberdeen 1 Hibs 3
Hibs stunned Aberdeen this afternoon to make it three wins in their last four William Hill Premiership matches.
Aberdeen went into the match second in the William Hill Scottish Premiership table, and they made an early breakthrough thanks to a clinical Topi Keskinen finish.
Yet, despite the setback, we would turn the game on its head, hitting back through Elie Youan and Nicky Cadden before the half-time interval.
Martin Boyle provided the assist for both of those goals before turning goal scorer after the break with a clinical finish to give us a two-goal cushion.
Aberdeen threw caution to the wind and piled on the pressure late on however a combination of poor finishing and stout defending saw us stand firm.
David Gray made two changes to the side that defeated Ross County 3-1 at Easter Road last weekend.
Veterans Junior Hoilett and Dwight Gayle dropped out of the starting XI and their places in the side were taken up by Josh Campbell and Boyle.
Aberdeen meanwhile made four changes following their draw with St Johnstone - Nicky Devlin, Jack MacKenzie, Ester Sokler and Keskinen all in from the start.
We started brightly at Pittodrie, winning a series of early corner kicks before Nicky Cadden fired an early shooting opportunity from a free kick into the defensive wall.
Aberdeen weathered the early pressure and it took a brave block from Rocky in the 13th minute to thwart Sokler after Keskinen had broken clear on our left and squared the ball.
It was a warning that we failed to heed as Aberdeen opened the scoring just one minute later when Keskinen was again played through on the channel, this time he cut inside onto his right foot a drilled a low finish beyond Jordan Smith to score.
Despite that set back, we quickly restored parity as Smith’s long clearance downfield was flicked on by Campbell, Slobodan Rubezic made a mess of clearing the ball, allowing Boyle to slip it to Youan and he fired past Ross Doohan.
Having shared six goals less than four weeks ago there were high hopes of another goal-fest this afternoon and the teams certainly did not disappoint.
Aberdeen almost restored their advantage when Keskinen curled a stunning finish beyond the despairing dive of Smith only for the ball to crash back off the inside of the post, roll along the line and thankfully away from danger.
The hosts were targeting balls into the channels, and we were struggling to contain them at times as they turned out defence and had us facing our goal.
Yet, we would silence the big home support on 35 minutes by taking the lead. Boyle was the architect slaloming through the home defence before hanging a cross up to the back post that Nicky Cadden volleyed home.
Nicky’s fourth goal of the season was a stunning finish and in the moments that followed it we were unlucky not to add to our advantage as Youan had an effort deflected wide and Boyle shot off target from a good position.
We should’ve added to our lead in the dying embers of the half when Nicky Cadden was again picked out arriving late at the back post only this time he headed straight at Doohan with the goal at his mercy.
Aberdeen returned for the second period with a fire in their bellies and Smith twice had to acrobatically tips efforts over his crossbar in the opening moments.
Yet, just when the home support looked to get behind their side and build momentum, we scored once again to drain any enthusiasm they had mustered.
Nectar Triantis pounced on a slack pass in the midfield to win possession before driving forward and feeding Boyle, who cooly slotted past Doohan with an angled finish to score.
Having earlier provided two assists and been a constant thorn in the Dons’ side, Boyle goal was thoroughly deserved following his terrific performance.
We were two goals to the good however we would suffer a couple of blows shortly after when Warren O’Hora and Joe Newell both limped off in quick succession and had to be replaced.
Aberdeen didn’t give in and almost pulled one back when Keskinen did well on the left flank before picking out Jamie McGrath at the near post however the midfielder could only stab the ball wide of goal.
Next up Nilsen went close with a rising shot from distance that flashed just over Smith’s crossbar.
Aberdeen substitute Peter Ambrose was introduced to try and spearhead a Dons’ revival and he would have several chances to score in the closing stages.
First, he had a free header from a Graeme Shinnie cross that he headed wide from just eight yards before he was then put clean through by McGrath only to shoot off target with Smith to beat.
The home support collectively groaned as chances came and went as we stood strong to everything Aberdeen could throw at us.
We were putting our bodies on the line and giving it everything, which was summed up by a flurry of late yellow cards for both sides as the game evolved into a battle.
Seven additional minutes came and went as the full-time whistle brought to an end a terrific battling performance as we return home with all three points.