Aberdeen 1-0 Kilmarnock: Oday Dabbagh scores last-minute winner at Pittodrie

Oday Dabbagh struck a stoppage-time winner as Aberdeen made it three straight victories after a battling 1-0 Premiership triumph over Kilmarnock to retain third spot in the table.

The home side had the best of the play but were largely kept at arms length by a determined Killie defence – though VAR would play a key role in overturning a visiting penalty and a Dons goal.

But Dabbagh, the Palestinian striker, notched his first goal for the club in added time to snatch the points.

The result came at a cost in terms of personnel for the home side, though, with full-backs Jack MacKenzie and Nicky Devlin forced off through injury.

The Dons struggled to threaten Kieran O’Hara in the Killie goal during the first half despite bossing possession.

Indeed, Dimitar Mitov – back in goal for the Dons after a lengthy spell out injured – was the busier of the keepers, with Liam Donnelly keen to test the Bulgarian.

Donnelly struck high and wide from range before forcing Mitov into a diving save low to his right from similar distance. From the resultant corner, Corrie Ndaba’s flick on a Donnelly cross was held by the Dons keeper.

Kilmarnock thought they had won a penalty as Donnelly went down under the challenge of Kristers Tobers, with the Latvian shown a yellow card.

However, after a lengthy VAR review it was adjudged Tobers had in fact taken the ball with the spot-kick and card both overturned.

No sooner had play restarted than the Dons had the ball in the net as Jeppe Okkels curled sweetly into the bottom corner but VAR ruled the Dane had beenoffside in the build-up.

MacKenzie was forced off at the interval after taking a heavy leg knock and Devlin, his replacement, would last only 20 minutes before also retiring from the action.

The Scotland cap took a head knock in making a brave challenge on Fraser Murray, with the winger booked for his part.

The home side forced a save from O’Hara a minute later as Topi Keskinen finally broke through the visiting defence but saw his shot blocked by the keeper for a corner, which sparked a prolonged period of pressure on the Killie box.

The flow of the game was broken up by a slew of substitutions following Devlin’s withdrawal but Aberdeen looked visibly stronger as time wore on and with six minutes to go, Kevin Nisbet was unlucky to see his effort come back off the upright.

But Dabbagh popped up almost on the line to blast home a Mats Knoester knockdown and send what had been a tense Pittodrie into raptures.

What the managers said…

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin: “It was a nice win at home in front of our supporters and it’s good to get any win with more or less the last ball of the game.

“It was a stop-start game and it was hard to find a rhythm so the way we won the game was good to see. It was a difficult and tight game.

“It was good to see Oday get his goal, especially at home in front of our supporters to get that [relationship] going.

“It’s a strong competition and very tight in the table. We have high ambitions for the season but we have to celebrate small victories as well as the big ones.”

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes: “It’s not a game where we have to go away and have a post-mortem.

“I thought our performance merited a point but at half-time said that one goal might be enough in this game.

“It was tight right throughout and there were tight calls for our penalty being overturned and Aberdeen’s goal being chopped off.

“We lost a bit of concentration and I didn’t see the offside so that was a little bit of a bonus for us.

“I never felt Aberdeen cut us open and we stood up to it until the last minute. In Scottish football you have to deal with balls in your box.

“You have to credit Aberdeen, they made changes to try to change the dynamic of the game, but I’m not going to dwell too much on it.”

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