Aberdeen 2 - 1 Heart of Midlothian

The opening 20 minutes passed without much incident, with Bobby Madden the busiest man on the park, blowing his whistle on a regular basis to pick up on fouls which were preventing any decent moves breaking out.

Bobby Burns picked up the first yellow card of the match in the 21^st minute for a foul that stepped over the threshold of all those that had gone before.

A few minutes later Aberdeen had their first spell of real pressure as Shinnie, Lowe and Ferguson combined down the left before squaring the ball for Cosgrove, unfortunately the striker couldn?t get his shot away. Moments later an inventive ball over the top from Ferguson almost found Stewart but Doyle was quick off his line to collect.

In the 26^th minute Stewart had a good sight at goal from 20 yards but dragged his shot past the near post.

With ten minutes of the half remaining The Dons won a free-kick on the right hand side of the box, the ball was fizzed in to a dangerous area by Stewart but the visitors managed to turn the ball away from imminent danger for a corner. From the corner, the ball broke wide for Shinnie but his shot was dragged wide of the far post leaving Doyle untested.

The first shot on target of the game came from the visitors when Bozanic saw a shot deflected straight at Joe Lewis.

With a couple of minutes of the half remaining there was a scare for Aberdeen as Lewis took a sore one after being caught late on his knee, thankfully after receiving some treatment the stopper was able to continue.

The second half began with Clare booked for a late challenge on McKenna and he was quickly followed into the book by Considine, it looked a bit harsh as he was adjudged to have caught a Hearts player with his elbow.

The first strike of the half came from The Dons when Cosgrove was played through by Ferguson, the striker was one on one with the keeper and made a good connection, but it was too central and Doyle made a decent stop.

Just before the hour mark Aberdeen had the lead as Ferguson reacted quickly in the area to fire a loose ball past the keeper on the half volley, the youngster reacted quickly and was rewarded for his composure with the goal.

Cosgrove almost doubled the lead minutes later when he showed good strength to shake off a couple of Hearts defenders before unleashing a powerful strike towards the far post but the keeper was equal to it.

In the 64^th minute Hearts equalised when the ball was worked from a throw-in to the back post via a couple of flick on?s in the box to Burns at the back post. The full back then squeezed the ball past Lewis, it was a scruffy goal but you had to hand it to the visitors for committing so many players into the box and finding the spare man who was unmarked.

Aberdeen were forced to make a change with twenty minutes remaining as Considine went off with an injury, he was replaced by Devlin.

The Dons almost regained the lead when Lowe got to the byline and fired the ball across the six yard box, it could have ended up anywhere after a deflection but was cleared off the line.

Thankfully Aberdeen did not have too long to wait to regain the lead as Stewart made a great connection from a cross in the 76^th minute to find the top corner of the net.

Dikamona then became the latest player to be booked for the visitors for another late challenge. The home side then had a free-kick 25 yards from goal after a foul on Shinnie. Unfortunately, Stewart?s effort could not beat the wall.

Stewart then had an opportunity to put the game beyond doubt after juggling the ball in the area but he could not find the target from a narrow angle. It was Stewart?s last action of the game before he was replaced by May.

In the 87^th minute there was an opportunity for the visitors as Maclean broke the offside trap and knocked the ball past Lewis who brought him down just outside the area. Hearts argued for a red card for Joe but they had to settle for a yellow card and a free-kick which was fired well over the bar.

There was still time for one more yellow card in the 90, as Maclean picked up a yellow card for an aerial challenge with McKenna.

As the match entered added time everyone in the stadium was anticipating an aerial bombardment from the visitors. The Dons had to deal with a couple of high crosses and long throws but they did it with ease to see out the match and seal three points to move back into third place in the league.