Aberdeen 3 - 5 Heart of Midlothian

The young Dons had to play young keeper Paul Leask after Greg Kelly was injured in training this week. Other keepers Fraser Stewart and Scotland schoolboys international Ross Gibson are also injured. The youngsters then made a tentative start and the visitors raced into a two-goal lead with a couple of strikes in the opening 15 minutes from McLaughlin.

Aberdeen hit back and forced their way back into the game two minutes later. Willie John Kiely was taken down in the box and McInnes fired the penalty past the keeper and via both posts!! This goal gave the Dons a massive lift and four minutes later Neil equalized. Neil drove at the defence then linked with McGuire before curling the ball home for a fine goal. There was no further scoring in the first half but just after the break Aberdeen turned the match around as they took the lead for the first time.

Aberdeen went ahead just after the break when a McInnes corner was missed by the keeper and substitute Paton was on hand to score. Aberdeen then lost two bad goals from a defensive point of view to hand the initiative back to Hearts. As the Dons pushed forward for an equaliser Hearts grabbed a late goal to make the game safe.

Neil Cooper spoke to Redweb after the match and he had mixed feelings on the display. "Some of our defending was poor today but credit to them for getting back into the game after being two down so early on. Overall they performed well against what was a good, strong Hearts side"