Aberdeen moved nine points clear in second place, with Adam Rooney’s second-half goal enough to secure a 1-0 win against Ross County.
The Dons struggled to break down a resolute Staggies side who had chances of their own, however Rooney’s 17th goal of the season saw the Reds capitalise on third-placed Rangers’ 2-1 loss against Caley Thistle on Friday.
Dons manager Derek McInnes restored faith in the side which brought him seven wins from eight matches, with Ryan Christie dropping out in place of Graeme Shinnie.
County were searching for their first victory of 2017, and Jim McIntyre made three changes from the side defeated 2-1 by St Johnstone the previous weekend. Jay McEveley dropped out of the squad, while Kenny van der Weg and Milan Lalkovic were on the bench. Skipper Paul Quinn returned, along with Jason Naismith and Alex Schalk, while Michael Gardyne surpassed Scott Boyd as the club’s record appearance holder in his 307th outing for the club.
The Dons created the bulk of the early pressure, with Adam Rooney nodding over and Shay Logan seeing his powerful low drive blocked.
County began to impose themselves on the game however, with skipper Andrew Davies spurning a glorious chance to break the deadlock on 25 minutes when he nodded a free header past the post from Martin Woods’ delivery. Woods also tried his luck with a free-kick minutes later, but curled his effort just over the bar.
The Reds regained their stride and Scott Fox had to be alert to gather Rooney’s overhead kick on 37 minutes, before stooping low to save Kenny McLean’s bobbling low effort.
Both sides spurned fine chances just before the interval, with Craig Curran firing over on the rebound after Alex Schalk’s free-kick had been saved by Joe Lewis, before at the other end Jonny Hayes evaded Quinn before squaring for Rooney who got the ball stuck under his feet as he tried to guide it home.
County, who brought on van der Weg in place of former Dons defender Paul Quinn at half-time, started brightly after the break, with Schalk seeing his long-range effort tipped wide by Lewis, who again had to show sharp reactions to deal with another Davies header through a crowded penalty area.
McInnes stepped up the pursuit of an opening goal when he replaced defender Mark Reynolds with attacker Miles Storey, and the Dons made the breakthrough on 69 minutes when Davies failed to clear McLean’s cross, allowing the ball to break loose for Rooney to guide it home.
That put the Dons in command, and Rooney nearly added a second moments later with another overhead kick which forced a fine scrambled save from Fox.
The home side continued to probe in search of a killer second goal, with Niall McGinn seeing his far post volley from a Storey delivery well beaten away by Fox, while Storey blazed over in the dying minutes after being slipped through by Rooney, however the Dons had enough to hold out for a valuable victory.