Aberdeen left it late but a moment of brilliance from midfielder Willo Flood won them a hard-fought three points against a Hibs side who had more than matched them for long spells of last night’s Pittodrie clash.
There were few clear-cut chances which came as no surprise before the game only leaders Celtic had conceded fewer than the 19 goals both sides had let in in the Scottish Premiership season.
But Flood’s late goal earned the points to take the Dons four clear of Motherwell in second place in the Premiership.
Aberdeen made two changes from their win over Kilmarnock. Loan signing Alan Tate was handed a debut after Michael Hector’s loan spell at the club had come to an end, while captain Russell Anderson was replaced by Joe Shaughnessy.
Terry Butcher’s Hibs were unchanged from the side that had let a two-goal lead slip against Dundee United last weekend.
Both sides had penalty claims waved away in the first half.
The home side escaped an early scare when Mark Reynolds left a through ball for goalkeeper Jamie Langfield to claim, only for Paul Heffernan to ease between the pair.
He went down, seemingly under the challenge of Langfield, but Hibs’ penalty claims were ignored.
There was much more pressure on referee Craig Thomson later in the half with the majority of the 12,734 crowd appealing for a spot-kick after Michael Nelson clearly handled Peter Pawlett’s cross from the right but again the referee was unmoved.
Both sides had chances after the break but the game looked to be petering out towards a 0-0 draw when Flood stepped up to fire an unstoppable shot into the net from 20 yards with just four minutes left.
Derek McInnes was proud of the way his side kept going before getting their reward.
He said: “I thought we deserved the three points.
“The mentality of our players to keep going until the final whistle is something I am happy with.”
Opposite number Terry Butcher said: “It’s frustrating when you defend so well for 85 minutes of the match and then concede like that.”