The Scottish Premiership title race remains Celtic’s to lose, but the Dons served notice they are going to make the Hoops work for another championship with a rampant display against Hamilton Accies.
The pressure was on the home side to respond at Pittodrie yesterday, first due to a costly defeat at Motherwell in its last outing before the international, and second to Celtic’s 3-1 win against Hearts on Saturday
lunchtime which had extended the advantage at the top of the table to
seven points.
The Dons did both in style with one of their best displays of the season
against a hapless Hamilton who simply could not stem the tide.
The damage was done in a pulsating first half for Derek McInnes’ side, who were in control of a one-sided encounter from the first minute to the last.
Simon Church grabbed the first goal in the fourth minute, heading Hayes’ cross from the right past Michael McGovern and Niall McGinn had the Dons cruising to victory with just quarter of an hour played when dispossessed Ziggy Gordon on the edge of the box before prodding the ball under his Northern Ireland international team-mate McGovern.
The Dons were rampant against an Accies side who were struggling to repel the wave of attacks down the flanks and a deserved third goal came in the 33rd minute when Graeme Shinnie picked out McLean and his first time shot flashed high past McGovern.
If the final score had been double the visitors would still have got off lightly