Leigh, Cosgrove and Hedges Secure Win For Dons

Two goals in two minutes put the Dons well on their way against Ross County at Pittodrie this afternoon with Greg Leigh opening the scoring and Sam Cosgrove netting his 10th goal of the season so far following a penalty.  Ryan Hedges made it three after the break.

A much more solid performance from the Dons pushes us back up to fourth in the Scottish Premiership.

Derek McInnes made four changes to the side that drew 0-0 against Kilmarnock last weekend.

Scott McKenna and Shay Logan were both ruled out through injury.  Scott will be out for about a month with a hamstring tear from the match last weekend at Rugby Park and Shay had a minor operation on a groin problem.

That meant we had only four fit defenders available, with no defensive back up on the bench.

Ryan Hedges and Niall McGinn were in the starting line-up with James Wilson and Jon Gallagher both benched.

Aberdeen started as they meant to go on and we were close to going ahead in the ninth minute when Ryan Hedges played a free kick to release Niall McGinn on the right, McGinn’s shot was palmed out by County’s Ross Laidlaw for it to land at Sam Cosgrove who shot the ball from 12 yards only to have it cleared off the line by Keith Watson.

Not long after Niall McGinn shot a left pass from Greg Leigh into the penalty area over the bar from 12 yards and Mikey Devlin had a chance in the 23rd minute with his shot just glancing wide.

A goal was in the air, it was just when.  And that fell to Greg Leigh from a Hedges curling cross which was picked up by Greg and he fired the ball home into the visitor’s net.

Then three minutes later, Aberdeen were awarded a penalty when Lewis Ferguson was brought down in the box by Ross Laidlaw.

Sam stepped up to take the shot, and slotted home his 10th goal of the season.

The Dons went into the break 2-0 ahead.

Just shortly after the start of the second half, the Dons went further ahead after a fantastic McGinn cross from the left towards the back post and Ryan Hedges came in from the right to slot the ball home from close range.

Ross County were also awarded a penalty after a Ross Stewart shot hit Funso Ojo’s hand – Ojo was booked but Billy McKay missed the penalty hitting the right hand post and the ball went wide.

The Dons continued to threaten and County nearly took a consolation goal after Ross Stewart put in a curling shot that hit off the back post and again were denied by the woodwork.

Sub Scott Wright had a chance in the 79th minute after his low drive was blocked by Laidlaw.

All-in-all a comfortable afternoon for the Dons as we head into the international break on a more comfortable footing.