10-men St Mirren endured a tough afternoon at Pittodrie as we were beaten in Aberdeen.
Declan Gallagher was sent off after just 22 minutes following two yellow cards and Aberdeen took full advantage to go 3-0 up at half-time. Saints dug in and pulled a goal back early in the second-half, but substitute Luis Lopes added a fourth as the Dons picked up all three points.
There were three changes to the side that lost narrowly to Motherwell last week. Scott Tanser and Mark O'Hara missed out through injury to be replaced by Richard Tait and Greg Kiltie, while Curtis Main made his first start of the season in place of Alex Greive.
Saints had started fairly well with Kelle Roos having to get a strong hand to push away a Main ball across the face of goal with a Dons defender getting a toe in just before Ayunga could get on the rebound. Before that Gallagher had been booked for a late challenge on ex-Saint Hayden Coulson who had to be substituted after being injured in the tackle.
10 minutes later the Buddies defender was given his marching orders for a second yellow. Vicente Besuijen cracked the post from 20 yards and Gallagher was adjudged to have blocked Liam Scales' follow-up attempt with his hand. Bojan Miovski stepped up to notch the resulting penalty into the net to give Aberdeen the lead.
Aberdeen took control of the match after the red card and threatened a second with Scales heading just inches wide on two occasions. The Dons - and Miovski - would get their second with eight minutes of the first-half remaining. The forward scored again as he nipped in ahead of Trevor Carson and Charles Dunne to divert a low Jonny Hayes cross into the net.
The home side added a third on the stroke of half-time in spectacular fashion. Miovski, looking for his hat-trick, was denied by a good block from Carson. Matty Kennedy was first on to it and played the ball back to Aberdeen debutant Leighton Clarkson who fired a stunning strike into the top corner from 25 yards.
Stephen Robinson made a change at half-time with Ryan Flynn introduced in place of Curtis Main.
After Carson made another decent stop to Miovski his hat-trick, Saints started working their way into the game with Keanu Baccus shooting wide from 20 yards after a good counter from Kiltie. And the Buddies would pull a goal back through Ayunga from the penalty spot on 53 minutes. Jonny Hayes fouled Kiltie in the Dons box and Ayunga scored from 12 yards to net his fifth St Mirren goal since joining from Morecambe in the summer.
Jonah Ayunga pulled a goal back for Saints from the penalty spot to score his fifth goal for Saints (Image: AFC Media)
But Aberdeen still had the man advantage and looked to make that count with Carson making two big saves on the hour mark to keep the deficit at two. The Northern Ireland international blocked Miovski's effort before getting a strong hand on a powerful strike from Besuijen.
Aberdeen would have to end the match with 10 men also with Callum Roberts going off injured on 82 minutes after the Dons had made all their stoppages. But any hopes of Saints pulling a second goal back to make the final minutes interesting were extinguished when Lopes broke the offside trap and deftly lifted the ball over Carson on 87 minutes to see the game end 4-1 to the hosts.
Full-Time: Aberdeen 4-1 St Mirren
St Mirren: Carson, Gallagher, Shaughnessy (c), Dunne, Strain (Taylor 90), Baccus (Greive 78), Erhahon, Kiltie, Tait, Ayunga (Brophy 78), Main (Flynn 46)
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Reid, Henderson, Olusanya, Offord
Aberdeen: Roos, Richardson, Scales, Stewart, Coulson (Clarkson 12), Kennedy (Roberts 63), McCrorie, Ramadani, Hayes (Lopes 72), Besuijen, Miovski (Ramirez 72)
Subs Not Used: Lewis, Watkins, Polvara, Duncan, Milne
Referee: Alan Muir
Assistant Referee: David Dunne
Assistant Referee: Gordon Crawford
Fourth Official: Calum Scott
Attendance: 14,420
