St Mirren picked up three points at Pittodrie but will have to face a play-off to secure our status in the William Hill Premiership after Kilmarnock defeated Dundee at Rugby Park.
Goals from Richard King and Killian Phillips saw the Buddies defeat Aberdeen 2-0 in the Granite City and give us a morale boosting victory.
Craig McLeish was able to welcome back Alex Gogic from suspension, while King also came in from the start in the two changes to the lineup that was defeated by Kilmarnock on Saturday. Conor McMenamin missed out with injury and Roland Idowu dropped to the bench.
Saints made a positive start in the Granite City and should have been ahead on nine minutes with the first opportunity of the match. Phillips whipped the ball down the right-hand side for Mikael Mandron who showed great strength to out-muscle Mats Knoester. The forward returned the ball to Phillips who was in acres of space on the edge of the area. But the Irishman dragged the attempt wide of the left-hand post when he should have hit the target.
That was the only opportunity in what was a drab opening 40 minutes, but the Saints would hit the front before the interval. Mark O'Hara's slid a quick free-kick through to Jacob Devaney down the right-hand side. The loanee sent a brilliant low ball to the back post where it met defender King who fired into the net to break the deadlock.
Aberdeen fired an early warning shot a little over a minute after the restart. Substitute Lyall Cameron lifted a ball over the top for ex-Saint Toyosi Olusanya to race on to. The striker burst forward and looked like he'd have a clear chance on goal, only for Gogic to get in ahead of him to toe the ball behind.
The Dons, who offered little in the opening 45, showed a little more intent after the restart with Stephen Robinson's men forced a number of corners, but it was the Buddies who'd have the first clear cut chance in the second-half on 57 minutes. Phillips slipped the ball through for Mandron who raced in on goal, but his effort didn't have the power behind it and made it a fairly routine stop for Aberdeen stopper Per Kristian Bratveit.
Ross Sinclair was tested for the first time a minute later when he was forced to block Mitchel Frame's powerful strike from the angle. Aberdeen had another opportunity to pull themselves level on 62 minutes when Olusanya got the better of his former teammate Gogic and laid it on a plate for Kevin Nisbet who took it first time but ballooned high and wide.
Saints added a second with 10 minutes remaining. Geiger fouled Phillips on the edge of the area and that presented the Buddies with a good free-kick opportunity. It was Gogic who stepped up to take and the Cypriot cracked his effort off the cross bar. O'Hara showed great determination to win it back which allowed Mandron to send the ball across for Phillips to bundle home and ensure three points would head back to Paisley.
While it wasn't enough to see us avoid the play-offs, there will be plenty of positives to take into them after a fighting performance that showed Saints' quality.
Full-Time: Aberdeen 0-2 St Mirren
St Mirren: Sinclair, Fraser, Gogic, Donnelly, King, O'Hara (c), Devaney, Campbell, Freckleton, Phillips (Douglas 90), Mandron
Subs: Tamosevicius, Richardson, Duff, Tanser, Falconer, Idowu, Calvin, Young
Aberdeen: Bratveit, Devlin (c) (Lobban 68), Knoester, Morrison (Milne 46), Molloy, Frame, Aremu (Cameron 46), Geiger (Shinnie 79), Palaversa, Olusanya, Nisbet (Keskinen 68)
Subs: Suman, Bwomono, Bilalovic, Kjartansson
Referee: David Dickinson
AR1: Graeme Stewart
AR2: Chris Rae
Fourth Official: Dan McFarlane
VAR: Greg Aitken
Attendance: 15,638
