Half time: Heart of Midlothian 2 Aberdeen 0
During the interval Kari Arnason replaced Greg Stewart with Anthony O?Connor moving into the middle of the park. The Icelandic defender made a good block at the near post as Milinkovic tried to get on the end of a low cross from the right. By now the rain had started falling which left a slick surface but it was the home side who were benefitting as they were passing the ball about with confidence. On 57 minutes Lafferty from a tight angle flashed in a shot which was tipped over by Lewis. On the hour mark Niall McGinn was replaced by Gary Mackay-Steven. Then a couple of minutes after that Christie was yellow carded for a foul on Cowie. Aberdeen were needing a spark from somewhere, but you could not see where it was coming from. Hearts continued to press the Dons midfield extremely well and they could not get anything going in the final third. On 65 minutes GMS got the better of Naismith and was able to run into the area but his low shot from an angle was straight at McLaughlin. At least it gave the 1,768 Aberdeen fans some encouragement. On 70 minutes Milinkovic was replaced by Amankwaa. Also Ryan Christie came off for Adam Rooney. A minute later a fine McLean pass found Shinnie down the line. The skipper played an early ball over to GMS who had another opening, but he dragged his low shot across the goal and past the post. Both May and Rooney were well positioned inside the area, so a good chance was wasted. With just over 10 minutes to go Lewis got down well to block a Lafferty effort with his left leg. Then Aberdeen missed a golden chance to get to life-line. A patient build-up eventually resulted in a Logan cross to the back post picking out Considine. His knock down found Rooney but the striker saw his effort at the near post rebound off the bar. With four minutes to go Cowie was replaced by Cochrane. Aberdeen huffed and puffed a bit in the closing stages but never looked like getting a consolation.