Dundee suffered a disappointing defeat against a well-drilled Aberdeen side with a bad day made worse following the late sending-off of the influential Gary Harkins.
The Dons utterly dominated the first-half and created a host of chances.
In the 12th minute, Niall McGinn hit a long-range lob which Dundee keeper Scott Bain had to tip over his crossbar.
Fourteen minutes later, though, the Dark Blues goalie was helpless as an Adam Rooney header from a McGinn cross in from the Aberdeen right clipped the top of Bain’s crossbar.
The keeper’s opposite number Danny Ward was a virtual spectator with Dundee struggling to carve out an opportunity worthy of the name.
Just two minutes after the restart, the Dark Blues did have a superb opportunity to open the scoring when Greg Stewart played Kane Hemmings through on goal but Ward raced off his line to block the striker’s shot.
Stewart then went close with a long-range effort of his own as Dundee finally made this a more even contest.
However, it was the Dons who broke the deadlock in the 67th minute.
Jonny Hayes embarked on a scorching run down the Aberdeen right before sending a tempting cross towards Rooney who made no mistake heading past Bain from six yards.
In the 85th minute, Bain came to the rescue when Graeme Shinnie looked to finish what had been a sweeping move by the Dons but the keeper made a great point-blank stop.
However, Aberdeen finally put the game to bed in stoppage time.
Rooney broke into the Dundee penalty area and crashed to the turf under a challenge from Harkins with referee Bobby Madden flashing a red card at the midfielder and pointing to the spot.
Rooney picked himself up to send Bain the wrong way with his penalty.
For full report, reaction and analysis, see Monday’s Courier.