After an even start, Livingston provided the first goal mouth action in the 4th minute after Deloumeaux tripped Pasquinelli on the far left. The Frenchman was on hand however to clear his lines as a dangerous cross was driven into the area. Aberdeen immediately broke and Main had to come well out of his penalty area to close down Derek Young. A Hart cross in the 6th minute caused panic in the Livi defence enabling the Dons to win their first corner.
Aberdeen should have done better in the 10th minute when Hart set up Hinds only 8 yards out. The Ex-Clyde man showed a poor first touch and the danger was cleared. Tosh collected the poor clearance and worked his way to the bye line but was unable to cut the ball back to Hinds and give him the chance to redeem himself. There were loud appeals for a spot kick in the 12th minute as McGuire appeared to be tumbled inside the box. Mr. Underhill was not interested in the claim and play raged on. McGuire almost had the last laugh seconds later when he fired a low shot towards Main, which the keeper saved comfortably.
The warning was heeded as Aberdeen took the lead in the 25th minute. Chris Clark played a short pass through to Leigh Hinds and the striker found some space before drilling the ball through the keeper's legs to claim his first goal for the club. Livi hit back three minutes later when Lovell forced Kjaer into action with the Dane having to parry a fierce drive. On the half-hour mark Kjaer's left-hand post denied Livingston for a second time. Zarate hit a cracking free kick from 30 yards, which beat the wall and Kjaer before crashing of the post, spinning on to the goal line and spinning to safety.
Aberdeen appeared to take the foot off the pedal as half time approached allowing Livingston to gain the upper hand. The Lothian team looked the more likely to add to the scoring and Zarate hit the side netting in the final minute with another well executed free kick.
Aberdeen started the second half positively as Sheerin worked his way into the Livi area before hitting a weak shot. Main was almost embarrassed as his attempted clearance rebounded back over his head before he plucked it from the air. It wasn't long before Livingston were back looking for the equaliser with Zarate in particular looking dangerous. It was the Dons that went closest to adding to their tally in the 55th minute when Sheerin tried to make it five goals in as many games. He controlled the ball well before stepping forward and hitting a volley from 20 yards which Main did well to turn round the post with a fingertip save.
The game erupted in the 73rd minute when Mr Underhill produced a spate of cards. Wilson and McGuire got in a tangle inside the box as the Livi man made a weak claim for a spot kick. A couple of innocuous raised hands later and Wilson was dismissed and McGuire booked. Bingham and Young were booked for a similar non-event a minute later. Aberdeen were starting to live dangerously as they played deeper preferring to hit Livi on the break.
In one of these breaks in the 81st minute Tosh was unlucky as he attempted to chip Main but watched the ball slip agonisingly past the far post. In the final minute Aberdeen had the ball in the net, but Sheerin was adjudged offside well before D'Jaffo turned his cross into the empty net.