St Johnstone’s long unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt at Pittodrie today with an impressive Aberdeen outfit bossing the game from start to finish.
The home side took the lead early on through David Goodwillie but then passed up chance after chance to extend their advantage.
However, they finally broke St Johnstone’s resistance deep into stoppage time when sub Cammy Smith netted their second.
With Celtic’s game with Partick called off earlier in the afternoon the Dons’ win sees them start the New Year at the top of the Premiership table.
In the build-up to the match, Saints boss Tommy Wright had called this the game of the day between two sides in top form.
The stats certainly suggested that was the case with the Dons on a four-game unbeaten run with a clean sheet in each of those victories, while the Perth side were eight games without a loss.
St Johnstone were boosted by the return of talisman James McFadden and Murray Davidson from injury and a tooth abscess respectively to the squad with both taking a place on the bench.
There was only one change from the team that beat Dundee United last Saturday in the Tayside derby with Gary Miller replacing Brian Easton, who dropped out altogether.
Once again, on-loan United striker Brian Graham missed out through suspension.
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes, who received a boost earlier this week when Andy Considine and Jonny Hayes joined other star men Adam Rooney and Niall McGinn in putting pen to paper on new long-term deals with the club, made just one change to the side that defeated Inverness on Sunday with Shay Logan coming back in for Craig Murray.
Saints lined up with Miller at right-back and skipper Dave Mackay at left-back.
It was a cagey opening between two sides who obviously had a lot of respect for each other but the game exploded into life in just the seventh minute with a spectacular goal for the Dons.
McGinn played a ball in from the left towards David Goodwillie who produced a stunning overhead kick from 10 yards past a helpless Alan Mannus in the Saints goal to give his side the perfect start.
St Johnstone were rocked and their keeper had to produce a fine diving save shortly after when Peter Pawlett whipped a dangerous ball towards goal.
Aberdeen tails were up and they broke in the 12th minute with McGinn again the provider, this time to Pawlett, who raced through on goal with Mannus parrying away the winger’s header.
The Saints stopper then produced the best save of the lot so far in the 13th minute when he dived high to his left to tip over a fierce McGinn shot from 16 yards.
Aberdeen then passed up a superb opportunity to extend their lead in the 19th minute when Jonny Hayes struck a free-kick into the Saints box towards an unmarked Goodwillie who headed inches wide when he really should have hit the target.
Not surprisingly with the Dons in the ascendant, the Perth men were struggling to gain a foothold in the game with home keeper Scott Brown fulfilling the role of spectator.
The Dons posed a threat every time they attacked and Mannus had to look lively again just after the half-hour mark when a marauding Hayes hit a long-range effort which the diving keeper parried to safety.
Aberdeen thought they had finally received the reward all their pressure deserved in the 38th minute when Goodwillie played in Pawlett who beat Mackay before calmly shooting past Mannus.
However, referee Craig Thomson adjudged that Goodwillie had controlled the ball with his hand in the build-up and the “goal” was chalked off.
Brown finally had a save to make in the 45th minute when a Simon Lappin corner was not cleared properly and Steven Anderson hooked a shot towards goal which the keeper turned to safety.
Despite that late promising sign it would have been a mightily relieved Wright who got his side down the tunnel at half-time just the one goal in arrears.
The Saints players took the field at the start of the second 45 no doubt with their manager’s words of wisdom still ringing in their ears but again it was the Dons who looked the more dangerous.
Just five minutes after the restart, Goodwillie cracked a fierce shot from 20 yards which the diving Mannus did well to palm to safety with Ash Taylor heading the resulting corner just over.
Shortly after though the Saints goal led a charmed life when Rooney somehow scooped the ball over from just inches out when it looked easier to score.
Wright reacted by replacing Steven MacLean with McFadden in a bid to spark some life into his side.
Despite the Dons’ dominance, a one-goal lead is always a slender one and there were a few worried murmurings among the home support just after the hour mark when St Johnstone forced successive corners.
Then in the 65th minute, Fadden whipped in a dangerous ball to another substitute Gary McDonald but the midfielder made a hash of his diving header and the chance went abegging.
Aberdeen stormed back upfield with Anderson having to make a superb last-ditch tackle to stop Pawlett as he raced through on goal.
It was then Mannus’s turn to deny the Dons when he dived to his left to save a McGinn 20-yard free-kick which had curled around the Saints wall.
However, this was real backs-to-the-wall stuff and it seemed only a matter of time before the St Johnstone dam would break.
It finally did in the third minute of injury time.
Saints were on the attack pushing for an equaliser but Considine pounced to send Rooney racing clear up the Dons right. The striker kept his composure to cross for substitute Smith to steer the ball home past a helpless Mannus.
Attendance 15,236.
Aberdeen Brown, Logan, Considine, Taylor, Reynolds, Rooney, McGinn (Monakana, 80), Hayes, Pawlett (Smith 75), Goodwillie (Shankland, 75), Jack.
Subs not used Langfield, Murray, Wright, Gibbons.
St Johnstone Mannus, Mackay, Lappin, Wright, Anderson, Millar Davidson, 70), MacLean (Mcfadden, 58), Wotherspoon, Miller, Croft (McDonald, 57), O’Halloran.
Subs not used Banks, Scobbie, Caddis, Brown.
Referee Craig Thomson.