Recap
Wow… edge of the seat stuff in Ayrshire this evening as the Dons knocked out Kilmarnock in extra time in a thrilling Scottish Cup replay and set up a quarter-final with St Mirren.
Derek McInnes made two changes to the starting line-up from the match against Celtic on Sunday.
Both Dylan McGeouch and Craig Bryson came into the starting line-up, with Shay Logan dropping to the bench and Funso Ojo out injured.
The Dons had the early possession in the match, but it was Kilmarnock that had the first chance at goal through an Eamonn Brophy low drive, which was went into the safe hands of Joe Lewis.
Not long after though, Kilmarnock dug their heels in and had us penned back for a spell with some solid defending, albeit without any real chances coming from the home team.
Just under thirty minutes into the game, Stephen O’Donnell almost opened the scoring for Kilmarnock after he broke away, but Dylan McGeouch’s challenge prevented any damage.
However, towards the end of the first half, Kilmarnock took the lead, when El Makrini picked up a Chris Burke cross and his volley went past Lewis to put them ahead.
Derek McInnes put everything on the line at the start of the second half with a triple change.
Shay Logan, Dean Campbell and Sam Cosgrove came on for Craig Bryson, Dylan McGeouch and Connor McLennan.
It was a bold move, and it didn’t look as if the change was working out. Kilmarnock had the first chance of the second half in the 63rd minute when Gary Dicker played in Brophy, but Lewis managed to block the shot.
Niall McGinn had an effort shortly after and bent his shot narrowly wide.
With ten minutes left to go, Brophy had another chance after picking up an O’Donnell cross from the right.
And with time running out, Andrew Considine made a glancing head from Niall McGinn’s right wing free kick and put the shot in the bottom left of the next.
We could have won the game in injury time when Sam Cosgrove headed Shay Logan’s cross from the right against the top of goal.
Into extra time, and the Dons took the lead with just two minutes on the clock, Matty Kennedy opened his scoring with the Dons have picking up a rebound from Branescu and headed it into goal.
That lead only last six minutes, when Eamonn Brophy made it 2-2 after scoring from a free-kick.
With three minutes to go, Kabamba scored for Kilmarnock to make it 3-2 after Mikey Devlin attempted to clear a cross that came in from O’Donnell, which hit Joe Lewis and he claimed the rebound to score from close range.
A sucker punch, or was it?
Stuart Findlay took Lewis Ferguson down in the box, and Nick Walsh awarded the Dons a penalty. That duty went to Sam Cosgrove who scored comfortably from the spot to make it 3-3.
And in the final minute, Andrew Considine fired a cross from the left which was turned int our own next by Connor Johnson, an own goal giving the Dons the winner.
It was heart stopping stuff, but the Dons did it the hard way as we progress to our Scottish Cup quarter-final against St Mirren on Saturday 29 February
