Friend turned foe Gary Mackay-Steven helped send Dundee United tumbling out of the William Hill Scottish Cup at Pittodrie.
The former Tannadice star scored in the their last away win over Aberdeen – a 3-0 success back in August 2014 – but he made the Tangerines suffer this time with two goals in a 4-2 fifth-round victory for the Premiership team.
United fans feared the worst going into this game and, ultimately, they were absolutely right to be worried as their involvement in Scotland’s senior knockout tournament came to an end in the Granite City chill.
The Championship side were solid enough until the 20th minute, when they fell behind to Adam Rooney’s close-range header.
Some terrible defending from United’s makeshift backline then helped the hosts get a grip on the game that they never really let go despite the visitors netting twice.
Aberdeen took the lead thanks to Rooney then man-of-the-match Mackay-Steven made it two on 27 minutes.
Cheered on by almost 1,000 diehard fans, United dug in and got one back on 34 minutes thanks to a cool finish from Sam Stanton.
Unfortunately, Aberdeen went up the park a minute later and made it 3-1 thanks to Kenny’s McLean’s header.
Mackay-Steven, though, hadn’t finished and he grabbed his double on 55 minutes to really rub it in.
United substitute Paul McMullan made things a bit more interesting with a goal on 70 minutes then Dons defender Anthony O’Connor nearly put through his own net with three minutes remaining.
However, as former player Billy Dodds suggested might happen, they will now be left to concentrate solely on their flagging promotion bid.
United were huge underdogs going into this game so the last thing they needed was to lose one of their central defenders pre-match to a thigh injury.
That was their fate, however, with Paul Quinn failing to make it, leaving boss Csaba Laszlo to shuffle things around more than he wanted to.
Stewart Murdoch, who had signed for United as a midfielder before moving to full-back, was his choice to partner Mark Durnan at the heart of the backline, with debut maker Grant Gillespie slotting in at right-back.
The visitors started brightly and Billy King found himself with space inside the box in the first minute but his shot was blocked and spun away for a corner.
Dons defender Scott McKenna’s header then flew past the United post on five minutes before Durnan was booked for a foul on Graeme Shinnie.
A combination of Durnan and Lewis came to the Tangerines’ rescue on 10 minutes after a mistake by Craig Slater.
The goalie did well to save a strike from ex-Tannadice star Mackay-Steven and the ball rebounded to Rooney, whose shot hit Durnan on its way past the post. The Dons claimed for handball against the United defender but ref Willie Collum wasn’t interested.
United’s resistance, though, lasted only until the 20th minute, when they fell behind to a headed goal from Rooney.
The Irishman was in position to nod the ball over the line after it bounced up following Mackay-Steven’s shot down into the ground from 10 yards. United had failed to stop Kenny McLean cross coming in from the right and were in trouble as a result.
Stanton collected the visitors’ second yellow card as they kept battling away but the Tangerines were 2-0 down on 27 minutes.
Slater, not learning from the earlier mistake, got himself into another fine mess inside his own half and was robbed of possession. A grateful Niall McGinn accepted the gift, raced on then played the ball left to Mackay-Steven, who finished well with a low, angled drive.
To their credit, United hit back with a fine goal on 34 minutes.
It was nice move, with Slater playing the ball forward to Emil Lyng, who flicked the ball inside to Stanton.
The former Hibs man took a great touch and ran on towards goal before calmly slotting past home keeper Freddie Woodman.
The bad news was that United conceded again within a minute.
Some trickery from Ryan Christie saw the on-loan Celtic player turn and then place a cross on to the head of McLean, who nodded past Lewis.
Aberdeen pair Andrew Considine and Shinnie got themselves booked before the Tangerines’ keeper produced a superb save to keep it at 3-1 when he tipped a strike from Mackay-Steven over the bar.
The visitors brought on McMullan at half-time, with Slater making way, as they tried to find a way back into the tie.
McMullan moved up front alongside Lyng but the chances kept coming at the other end, with Rooney toe-poking a shot over the bar after some good build-up play from Aberdeen.
Dons defender O’Connor tried to give United some help when he dribbled around his own goalie Woodman on 55 minutes but the visitors couldn’t capitalise.
Just a minute later, though, it was 4-1.
Mackay-Steven, showing no mercy to his old team, was found by Christie and scored from the right-hand side of the box with a powerful shot that struck keeper Lewis before flying into the net.
The Tangerines hadn’t given up, however, and scored again on 70 minutes to make it 4-2.
The architect was Billy King, who went on a mazy run to the edge of the box before picking out McMullan, who curled a lovely right-foot shot beyond Woodman’s outstretched hand.
Lyng then made way for Scott McDonald on and Thomas Mikkelsen replaced Matty Smith as United mixed things up again in attack.
The Tangerines, who worked hard throughout, continued to try to get up the park but it should have been 5-2 to the hosts on 84 minutes when Christie blasted over when right in front of the United goal.
With just three minutes left, home goalie Woodburn was the hero as he pulled off a point-blank save to stop defender O’Connor scoring in his own net under some good United pressure.
However, it is the Pittodrie men who march into the quarter-finals and it’s all about the league for United now.
Attendance: 11,611
Aberdeen: Woodman, Logan, O’Connor, McKenna, Considine, Shinnie, McLean, Christie, McGinn, Mackay-Steven (Ball 82), Rooney (Maynard 90). Subs not used: Rogers, Arnason, Reynolds, Nwakali, Stewart.
Dundee United: Lewis, Murdoch, Durnan, King, Stanton, Slater (McMullan 46), Flood, Robson, Gillespie, Smith (Mikkelsen 76), Lyng (McDonald 71). Subs not used: Deniz, Allardice, Marton, Mason.
Referee: Willie Collum.
