Alan Cochrane @ Pittodrie Stadium

A goal from Jamie Hamill after 92½ gave Kilmarnock their first points of the season and sent a noisy Killie support back down to Ayrshire in raptures. And by the end of the game, if Aberdeen felt hard done by, Killie will certainly feel they defended well enough, and hit on the break as often as they could, to deserve all the points. In fact, the longer the game went, it was Kilmarnock who looked the more likely to break the deadlock.

If the first half was shaded by Aberdeen, it was only just shaded, between two hard working, if less than inspired, teams. Magennis gave Sissoko some problems from time to time, as the big Irishman put himself about, but Frazer Wright and Manuel Pascali were usually there to support the Killie Frenchman. Magennis did pull a cross ball back and tried to work it when a first time, old fashioned "blooter" was required, and Bell had to be smart to block a Considine follow up after a shot coming up off the wet grass had squirmed out of his grasp.

At the other end, Da Silva and Dayton were both causing some problems for the Dons down the wings, but it was Connor Sammon leading the line that stuck out for Killie in attack, and he had a shot cleared off the line, and another blocked away by Diamond for a corner, as Kilmarnock pushed forward towards the end of the first period, but they went in all square.

It took Kilmarnock almost 20 minutes of the second half to contain Aberdeen enough to start stringing some passes together themselves, but when they did, the home side started to creak. Sammon had decent shot well saved by Howard, and then McArdle just got to a header in front of goal before Sammon again, to knock the cross away. Both players went down in the clash of heads, and although it was Sammon who got covered in blood and had to go off to be bandaged and turbanned, the big Irishman also got booked for something Mr Winter saw which I didn't.

Kilmarnock kept waxing stronger though, and Jamie Hamill had a good left foot shot from 22 yards brilliantly turned over the bar by Mark Howard, and then a Sissoko header from a corner was blocked on the line by Mackie. The fourth official had long ago held up the board for 3 minutes additional time though when Jamie Hamill saw a ball falling short of Howard coming out, tapped the ball inside the keeper, and hit a left foot shot first time, into the empty net. Aberdeen had no time to come back, and the points were going to Ayrshire.

Mixu was a happy man at the end, and said that Kilmarnock had come up to Aberdeen looking to win, despite Aberdeen being at the top of the league, and Killie next to bottom. The manager had never felt that that was a true reflection of the quality of our play in those early games, and is convinced things are going in the right direction. Who could argue? Oh, and he didn't feel the need to use any substitutes - so the eleven on the park must have been doing okay.

Aberdeen: Howard, McArdle, Ifil, Folly, Diamond, Considine, Maguire (Megginson), Hartley, Magennis (Vernon), Mackie (Foster), Pawlett

Kilmarnock: Bell, Fowler, Wright, Sissoko, Bryson, Hamill, da Silva, Gordon, Sammon, Dayton, Pascali

Referee: Brian Winter

For interviews with Mixu Paatelainen and Jamie Hamill, listen to www.kicktalk.co.uk