Livingston 0 - 2 Aberdeen

Mackie was causing the home defence real problems and he turned Kernaghan well in the 11th minute but failed to find a teammate. A minute later Clark cut inside and curled the ball inches wide of McKenzie's post. Livingston created their first chance in the 13th minute when the defence went to sleep allowing McNamee a free header. Fortunately there was no power in the shot and Preece gathered easily. After Aberdeen had dominated the opening spell the home side started to ease into the match and won their first corner in the 20th minute. Aberdeen easily cleared and broke quickly to grab a second goal. Whelan collected and delivered a deep cross to the back post where he found Severin. The midfielder fired in a fierce shot that McKenzie could only palm into the path of Mackie and the Dons striker accepted the gift to stroke the ball into the net to make it 2-0.

At this stage Livingston were reduced to long-range efforts that failed to test Preece in the Aberdeen goal. Meanwhile Aberdeen were looking dangerous on the break as the wide play of Foster and Clark had the home defence in all sorts of bother. Dorado was lucky to escape a yellow card on the half hour mark when he took Heikkinen down as he headed for goal. The set play produced a corner but a poor delivery brought the attack to a halt. Three minutes later Dorado tripped Mackie and the free kick found Foster wide. Unfortunately his cross was too close to McKenzie and the home side were able to clear their lines. In the 35th minute McKenzie was out quickly to deny Mackie and seconds later Clark had an effort blocked as the Dons look to kill the match.

Anderson was immense at the back and once again he was on hand to deny Lovell in the 37th minute as Livi tried to get a lifeline in the game. Livingston pushed late in the half but Aberdeen always looked comfortable and could have grabbed a third in injury time when Foster hit the line and cut the ball back. Unfortunately Whelan and Mackie got in each other's way and the home side cleared their lines to keep the score at two.

Both teams made one change at the interval with Aberdeen replacing McNaughton with Phil McGuire and it was the Dons who threatened first with Mackie getting a half chance in the opening minute before the ball was scrambled clear. The match was very much following the pattern of the first half with Aberdeen controlling the game and looking for a third to cheer the large Dons section of the 4,569 crowd. With 64 minutes gone the game had gone flat and ex Don, Jim Hamilton was thrown in to the fray to try and pull the home side back into the match.

Aberdeen won a free kick in the 69th minute when Rubio had a tug at Mackie's shirt, but once again the Dons were unable to convert the opportunity into a scoring chance and a minute later Calderwood freshened things up when Pasquinelli replaced Whelan. The Argentinean forced a handball from Dorado in the 74th minute giving the Dons a free kick a yard outside the Livi box. Chris Clark stepped up and fired just wide of the target. Clark was then back to make a defensive challenge on McNamee a minute later as the work rate of the Aberdeen side continued to impress.

Another free kick in the 81st minute from Morrison was plucked out of the air by McKenzie and a minute later Hamilton forced a save from Preece. As the game petered out Aberdeen looked comfortable and never looked in danger of conceding. With Hearts slipping up at Tynecastle the Dons now move four points clear of the rest in third spot with two home games to come.