Visits: 14
Ryan Hedges’ late deflected strike saw an under-strength Aberdeen edge past St Johnstone 1-0 in their rearranged Scottish Premiership clash at McDiarmid Park on Thursday night.
The game had appeared destined to end goalless, until Hedges – who had been on the pitch for less than three minutes – cut inside and unleashed a low drive that took a crucial deflection off Liam Gordon on its way past Saints goalkeeper Elliot Parish with just eight minutes to go.
As a result, the visitors have moved up to eighth after their first win of the season, just a point behind their opponents, while St Johnstone stay seventh in the table, albeit having played two more matches.
How the Dons got off the mark this season
The Dons were unsurprisingly lacking a cutting edge amid an injury crisis up front and after eight players were forced to self-isolate for 14 days following two positive Covid-19 tests.
Of those whose night out sparked fury from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the postponement of three games, only Jonny Hayes started in Perth in a match originally called off immediately after the positive tests.
Matty Kennedy and Craig Bryson came on while Dylan McGeouch remained on the bench. Sam Cosgrove and Michael Devlin are injured, while Scott McKenna and Bruce Anderson remain unavailable.
As well as Cosgrove and Anderson, Derek McInnes was also without strikers Ryan Edmondson and Curtis Main through injury and started with midfielder Lewis Ferguson as his furthest man forward, with Niall McGinn and Scott Wright supporting from wide.
Aberdeen started with their new signing from Rangers, Ross McCrorie, and Tommie Hoban, making his first appearance for 18 months following injury, and they looked solid in defence in the second period.
There was little in the way of goalmouth action.
In each half, McGinn had efforts comfortably saved and Callum Hendry failed to capitalise on promising openings after Aberdeen lost possession inside their half.
Saints right-back Danny McNamara forced the best save of the first half when Joe Lewis tipped over his long-range strike.
Aberdeen’s best first-half move came when Wright turned his man and fed Hayes, whose cross was volleyed over by Funso Ojo.
The more attack-minded Connor McLennan came on up front at half-time as Ferguson dropped back.
Substitute Hedges seized the initiative and Aberdeen claimed the three points after Saints substitute Craig Conway fired a decent strike wide from 25 yards.
What the managers said…
1:30 
3:04 Man of the Match – Ash Taylor
What’s next?
St Johnstone host Hibernian on Sunday at 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports Football, while Aberdeen entertain Livingston on the same day (3pm).
