Aberdeen cruised to victory against Hearts as goals from Shay Logan and Jonny Hayes gave the Dons a 2-0 win against Hearts at Pittodrie.
The win takes the Dons 11 points clear in second place and 17 clear of fourth placed Hearts.
Aberdeen made one change from last week’s 1-0 win over Motherwell, with Andrew Considine returning to the defence following suspension. He took Jayden Stockley’s place in the team with the forward dropping to the bench.
Hearts were unchanged following their 4-0 victory over Hamilton with fit again central defender Aaron Hughes named among the substitutes.
Hearts had a great chance to take the lead when Esmael Goncalves found himself in space in the box but a superb sliding tackle from Anthony O’Connor denied the forward a chance to shoot.
Arnaud Djoum gathered the loose ball before teeing up Sam Nicholson but the Jambos midfielder fired over the crossbar.
The visitors would come to rue that missed opportunity as the Dons took the lead.
Niall McGinn was the creator, firing in a right footed cross which was met by the unmarked Shay Logan who powered a header past Jack Hamilton in the Hearts goal.
The Dons thought they had doubled their lead early in the second half when Adam Rooney netted the rebound after Hamilton had parried a low Graeme Shinnie drive but the goal was disallowed with the forward deemed to have been offside.
The second goal did eventually come on the hour mark and it was self-inflicted from theh visitors with Anastasios Avionitis’ pass back falling short, allowing Hayes in on goal and the Aberdeen midfielder took the ball past the Hearts goalkeeper before firing home.
The Dons should have had more but their comfortable day’s work was soured when substitute Stockley was sent off in the 89th minute for an elbow on Hearts defender Krystian Nowak but it was too late to have any impact on the outcome.