Aberdeen returned to winning ways in the Scottish Premiership as a 3-1 victory over St Mirren moved them above their opponents, who have now lost five straight matches.Â
Brad Lyons gave the hosts the lead in spectacular fashion after just two minutes, but the Buddies went on to dominate the first half and levelled through Eseosa Sule.
A much-improved second-half display saw strikes from Kevin Nisbet and Ayoub Mouloua earn the Dons three points.
Lyons opened the scoring when he drove forward from Conor Ronan's pass and unleashed a spectacular 22-yard effort into the top corner, clipping the crossbar on the way in.
Dons goalkeeper Marius Muller had to be alert to save from Killian Phillips after a Declan John cutback, with Mats Knoester sliding in to block the former Aberdeen loanee's rebound effort.
A Luke Thomas cross saw Muller save again from Sule's header, before Aberdeen finally showed signs of growing back into the game - Nisbet was presented with two headed opportunities in the space of three minutes.
But St Mirren were the more dangerous, and while Muller once again denied Phillips from a curling effort, Saints were level three minutes before the break.
Marcus Fraser's superb switch to the far side saw Thomas hold the ball up for Phillips, whose cut-back was swept home at the far post by Sule.
Aberdeen made two substitutions and a change of formation at the break as they looked to gain a foothold, with Tony Yogane flashing an effort over the crossbar before fellow replacement Stuart Armstrong saw an effort ruled out for offside.
But they were back in front before the hour.
Paul Nsio hauled down Yogane on the edge of the area, and although referee John Beaton initially awarded a free-kick, a VAR review upgraded the call to a penalty.
Nisbet's initial effort was weak and well saved by Jacob Chapman, but the goalkeeper could not hold on to the ball and the Dons captain drilled home at the second attempt.
They extended their lead after 72 minutes as Mouloua, barely on the park for 60 seconds, latched onto Afeez Aremu's quick free-kick to beat the St Mirren line and curl the ball into the bottom-right corner.
Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson:
"We started brilliantly. It was a cracking goal from Brad [Lyons], who unfortunately had to come off at half-time with a reaction in his knee.
"We sat back and didn't play the way we wanted to play, but we got a massive reaction at half-time. We changed it a little bit, but it was the mindset we changed.
"I thought it could and should have been more, and it's amazing the way the confidence starts flowing when you score the second goal.
"I thought the subs were excellent and really made a difference.
"The crowd made their feelings known at half-time and they were justified in that. The players are young boys, so how do they react to that? They reacted really, really positively. They showed they can step up."
St Mirren boss Craig McLeish:
"It's a frustrating one because I feel like we beat ourselves today.
"Fair play to Aberdeen, they got a great result and were clinical where we gifted them some opportunities, but we can't go a goal down that early.
"It's an unbelievable finish, but there's no pressure on the ball when it lands and we have to take responsibility for that.
"How we reacted was positive - I thought we were excellent the rest of the first half, we probably should have scored a goal or two more. We knew they would get a reaction after half-time.
"They changed their energy and pressing, and we didn't really stand up to that side of it.
"We know we're on a tough run and we have to get out of that."
