Aberdeen breeze by County for first league win

Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes scored his first goal of the season

Aberdeen cantered to their first Scottish Premiership win of the season as they swept aside a ragged Ross County at Pittodrie.

Bojan Miovski tapped home an incredible Richard Jensen overhead kick assist to start the charge, before Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes grabbed his first goal of the season just minutes before the interval.

After the break, the visitors’ bemused backline was caught sleeping again as Jamie McGrath rolled in, with Miovski rifling another to ease the nerves at Pittodrie on the back of a shaky start to the hosts’ league campaign.

Barry Robson’s side stay 11th despite their rampant win, while Ross County remain in seventh.

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A fraught opening period needed a moment of quality, and it came from the unlikely source of Jensen, who unleashed an overhead kick while sat on the deck, which was promptly finished off by the prolific Miovski.

The opening goal lifted the shackles off Aberdeen, and they could have quickly doubled their lead had Duk lifted the ball over the onrushing Ross Laidlaw.

Duk then made up for it after a rampant counter attack allowed the forward to fire into the far corner.

The second period brought much of the same, as more County chaos at the back saw Miovski roll the ball towards an unmanned McGrath for a simple finish.

And another audacious assist would soon be on show as Aberdeen’s frontmen combined again. While tumbling to ground, Duk managed a back-heel flick to Miovski, with the North Macedonian slamming beyond Laidlaw to seal red-hot Aberdeen a much-needed league triumph.

Player of the match - Bojan Miovski

No wonder he’s smiling. Two goals and assist shows the North Macedonian’s credentials.

The boys are back - analysis

Last season, so much of Aberdeen’s success had been down to the lethal and graceful partnership of Miovski and Duk.

While the former has been scoring at a rate incongruous with his side’s stuttering start, the enigmatic Duk has had his head uncharacteristically bowed in the opening weeks of the campaign.

On an afternoon of plentiful positives for Aberdeen, the Cape Verde international’s return to the scoresheet may prove the most meaningful.

Although Aberdeen should be commended for completely nullifying their opposition, the task proved much easier than Malky Mackay would have wished.

The County manager has made a point of praising the attacking talent as his disposal this year, but when they aren’t in the game, the whole team looks shackled.

Even more concerning is the nature of the goals they conceded, with Aberdeen forwards streaming into promising positions whenever they fancied without reply.

What they said

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson: “After the performance the other night, we managed to go today and score a few goals. We brought a lot of speed and passed the ball really well. It was a worthy win for us.

“We don’t get carried away. We won a game at home. We had a good performance, but we have a big game on Wednesday that we want to try to win.”

Ross County manager Malky Mackay: “We come out of here well beaten by Aberdeen with Wednesday night in mind, knowing we have to be better than that.

“There will be nothing brushed under the carpet. We’ve not had too many days like that the last couple of years. We were playing against a good team. If you make basic errors a good players, you get punished.”

What’s next?

The two sides meet again in a Viaplay Cup quarter-final action on Wednesday (19:45 BST), before Aberdeen head to Ibrox on Saturday as Ross County welcome Hearts on the same day (both 15:00).

More to follow.

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Aberdeen

Formation 3-4-1-2

• 24Roos
• 6Gartenmann
• 33Rubezic
• 5Jensen
• 2Devlin
• 8Barron
• 4Shinnie
• 15McGarrySubstituted forHayesat 6’minutesSubstituted forMacKenzieat 54’minutes
• 7McGrathSubstituted forClarksonat 54’minutes
• 9MiovskiSubstituted forSoklerat 72’minutes
• 11Henriques de Barros LopesSubstituted forGuèyeat 72’minutes

Substitutes

• 3MacKenzie
• 10Clarkson
• 14Guèye
• 17Hayes
• 19Sokler
• 21Polvara
• 23Duncan
• 27MacDonald
• 31Doohan

Ross County

Formation 3-4-1-2

• 1Laidlaw
• 35Nightingale Booked at 68mins
• 5Baldwin
• 42Leak Booked at 60mins
• 4Brown Booked at 16mins
• 2Randall
• 7TurnerSubstituted forLoturiat 54’minutes
• 43ReidSubstituted forHarmonat 74’minutes
• 10Dhanda Booked at 38mins Substituted forSimsat 54’minutes
• 26WhiteSubstituted forSamuelat 74’minutes
• 15MurraySubstituted forBrophyat 60’minutes

Substitutes

• 3Purrington
• 11Sims
• 14Loturi
• 16Harmon
• 17Henderson
• 18High
• 21Munro
• 25Samuel
• 27Brophy

Referee: Don Robertson

Attendance: 15,116

Match Stats

Live Text

1. Match ends, Aberdeen 4, Ross County 0.

2. Second Half ends, Aberdeen 4, Ross County 0.

3. Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Connor Randall.

4. Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by James Brown.

5. Attempt saved. Victor Loturi (Ross County) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jack Baldwin.

6. Ryan Leak (Ross County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

7. Foul by Nicky Devlin (Aberdeen).

8. Attempt missed. James Brown (Ross County) left footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the right.

9. Jack Baldwin (Ross County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

10. Foul by Pape Guèye (Aberdeen).

11. Corner, Aberdeen. Conceded by Will Nightingale.

12. Josh Sims (Ross County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

13. Foul by Stefan Gartenmann (Aberdeen).

14. Attempt missed. Eamonn Brophy (Ross County) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Alex Samuel.

15. Attempt missed. Josh Sims (Ross County) left footed shot from the right side of the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by James Brown.

16. Substitution, Ross County. Alex Samuel replaces Jordan White.

17. Substitution, Ross County. George Harmon replaces Josh Reid.

18. Nicky Devlin (Aberdeen) wins a free kick on the right wing.

19. Foul by Josh Reid (Ross County).

20. Attempt missed. Connor Randall (Ross County) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by James Brown.

Player of the match

MiovskiBojan Miovski

with an average of 9.04

• Aberdeen
• Ross County

1. Squad number9Player nameMiovski

2. Squad number6Player nameGartenmann

3. Squad number2Player nameDevlin

4. Squad number4Player nameShinnie

5. Squad number5Player nameJensen

6. Squad number7Player nameMcGrath

7. Squad number8Player nameBarron

8. Squad number24Player nameRoos

9. Squad number11Player nameDuk

10. Squad number17Player nameHayes

11. Squad number33Player nameRubezic

12. Squad number3Player nameMacKenzie

13. Squad number10Player nameClarkson

14. Squad number19Player nameSokler

15. Squad number15Player nameMcGarry

16. Squad number14Player nameGuèye

Ross County

1. Squad number2Player nameRandall

2. Squad number1Player nameLaidlaw

3. Squad number7Player nameTurner

4. Squad number5Player nameBaldwin

5. Squad number35Player nameNightingale

6. Squad number43Player nameReid

7. Squad number42Player nameLeak

8. Squad number15Player nameMurray

9. Squad number4Player nameBrown

10. Squad number26Player nameWhite

11. Squad number10Player nameDhanda

12. Squad number25Player nameSamuel

13. Squad number27Player nameBrophy

14. Squad number14Player nameLoturi

15. Squad number16Player nameHarmon

16. Squad number11Player nameSims