Partick Thistle 0 - 2 Aberdeen

Aberdeen this afternoon equalled their best ever start to a season with a fifth straight win with another comfortable away win.

The only other time the Dons have done that in their history was at the beginning of the 1984-85 campaign. The 2-0 victory over Partick Thistle was deserved despite the fact the game was not a classic. The first 45 minutes were largely forgettable. After dominating possession the only real goalmouth incident was when the Dons had the ball in the net after a scramble inside the box but Taylor was penalised for a foul.

Straight after the interval Danny Ward made the first of three excellent saves during the second half. The Dons then got a stroke of lucky when McLean's shot hit Rooney and the striker was able to place the ball into the corner of the net. The Thistle players were less than happy as they thought the ball had bounced up and hit Adam's arm. TV replays suggest they had a case.

Thistle to their credit played well, were well organised and battled strongly throughout but it was the Dons who got a second when Rooney set up Goodwillie, his shot was well saved by Cerny but Kenny McLean was on hand to tap home his fifth goal of season. Towards the end Flood and Robson came off the bench to help the Dons see the game out.

New signing Ryan McLaughlin who joined the Dons on loan from Liverpool this morning met up with his new team mates and watched the game from the stand along with almost 2,500 Aberdeen fans.

match report

Derek McInnes named the same side that beat Dundee last week. So the Dons lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Ward in goal, a backline of Logan, Taylor, Considine and Shinnie. Jack and McLean were in central midfield with McGinn, Hayes and Rooney playing in behind Goodwillie. Aberdeen went into the game on the back of a four game winning run whilst Thistle had yet to win a match this season. Therefore the game as expected started with the Dons knocking the ball about confidently.

On seven minutes Shinnie swung in a cross which just went over the head of Ash Taylor who was in an advanced position. On nine minutes Hayes got the better Liam Lindsay and the central defender was given an early yellow card for hauling down the Aberdeen man. The young Thistle player redeemed himself when he did well to hold off Taylor in the air from the resulting free kick. On 14 minutes McGinn played a very clever through ball into space behind the Thistle backline. McLean read the pass and was very close to getting on the end of it. Kenny's movement again was exceptional today.

On 17 minutes the home side forced the first corner of the game but Ward claimed it confidently. Jonny Hayes then produced a darting run and he had a clear view of the goal but his shot was straight at Cerny. On 21 minutes the Dons had the ball in the net. Logan did well to pressurise the last defender to win a corner. There was then a stramash in the box and ball found its way into the net after Ash Taylor headed home but a free kick was awarded against Ash.

Aberdeen were now well on top but the blustery conditions made it difficult to get any real fluency into their play. On 24 minutes McGinn whipped in a good ball which led to a series of corners. From the second one the ball came back on to McGinn who did well to produce room for a shot but again Cerny was able to make a comfortable stop.

Although the conditions were not ideal the Dons play, and the game had become a bit scrappy. The home side were forced into a change before the interval when Frederic Frans limped off. Thistle then enjoyed their best spell of the game but failed to test Ward.

There was more action within two minutes of the restart than there had been for the whole of the first 45. Danny Ward was forced to produce an outstanding save just after the interval. Slack play at the back allowed Welsh to get on the end of a knock down from a throw in and get a shot on target and the Dons keeper did brilliantly to tip the ball over the bar. From the resulting corner the Dons again failed to clear their lines and Lindsay flashed a shot just wide.

On 49 minutes Aberdeen took the lead.

A clever throw-in found McLean who again produced a clever run to shake on his marker. Kenny's shot was off target and hit the unmarked Adam Rooney at the back post. The striker though did really well to control the ball and then forced it into the corner of the net past Cerny. The home players and fans were incensed as they felt the ball hit Adam's arm but the Dons striker played to the whistle and produced a good finish.

Aberdeen then had a couple of chances to grab a second within quick succession. McGinn got into a good area but his cross was just over hit. Logan then picked it up from the other side and did the same. Finally Shinnie burst into the area before cutting the ball back to Rooney. His first time snap shot just flew over. Adam will be disappointed he did not hit the target.

After another good little spell from the home side it was the Dons who grabbed the all important second. Partick failed to deal with a cross into the box, Rooney did really well to tee up Goodwillie and although his firmly struck shot across Cerny was well saved the keeper, he could only divert the ball into the path of McLean and the midfielder hammered the ball into the empty net. It was his fifth goal of the season and intelligent play from Kenny who anticipated what was going to happen.

On the hour mark Thistle replaced Welsh with Ryan Stevenson.

Aberdeen then almost allowed the Glasgow outfit back in the game when Callum Booth found himself in space but his shot was again brilliantly saved by Ward who produced a fine reaction save. On 65 minutes Derek McInnes made his first change, Hayes was replaced by Flood as the manager looked to tighten up the midfield area. On 68 minutes a dangerous delivery from a free kick very nearly led to a chance for Taylor.

Credit to the home side as they continued to battle hard and worked tirelessly to close down white shirts, something they did all afternoon. With fifteen minutes to go Rooney was replaced by Josh Parker.

On 78 minutes Logan was booked for talking down Booth. From the free kick substitute Jack Hendry nodded the ball down at the back post and watched it go right across the goal line and thankfully Flood was on hand to knock the ball clear. Aberdeen were not controlling the game as well as the manager would have liked so with seven minutes to go Robson came on and Goodwillie was taken off.

With five minutes to go Ward did very well again to use his long arms on the ground to cut out a Stevenson cross. At the other end, on the break on two occasions McGinn almost teed up Parker, on both occasions it would almost certainly have led to a third goal but it did not matter in the end.