Aberdeen go top of the Premiership with win over Dundee United

Aberdeen have moved three points clear at the top of the Premiership with a win over Dundee United at Pittodrie.

Peter Ambrose scored the winner in a 1-0 victory after a dominant second-half on Saturday night.

Jimmy Thelin’s side continued their impressive start to the season as they remain undefeated in the first nine league games with eight wins and a draw.

They now leapfrog champions Celtic at the top of the table with the Hoops not in action until Sunday afternoon when they travel to Motherwell.

Both Aberdeen and United had their fair share of possession in the first-half without creating too many chances at either end.

Ante Palaversa had the best opportunity of the half when he came close to giving the Dons a lead but flashed his effort wide of the post.

It remained goalless at the break and Jimmy Thelin rang the changes by bringing Shayden Morris on in place of Topi Keskinen.

The home side started the second half well and started to take the game to United in the early stages.

Jamie McGrath came close to grabbing the opener when he met a Jack McKenzie cut back at the edge of the area but his shot was deflected wide for a corner.

Duk then worked his way into the box before testing Jack Walton with a strong effort from an awkward angle that was well saved.

It was one-way traffic at this stage with Aberdeen being roared on by a fervent crowd inside Pittodrie.

Dundee United had their first real chance of the half on the hour mark when Will Ferry flighted a free-kick into the box and Sam Dalby found himself in space just yards from goal but couldn’t hit the target with his header.

Ester Sokler then thought he had scored the opener when he had a header from point-blank range but Walton somehow managed to get a hand to the ball and claw it away from danger with a great save.

The United keeper was called into action again just moments later and he did well to keep hold of a Duk effort that skipped across the wet surface as heavy rain started to batter the pitch.

Aberdeen kept pushing for the winner going into the last minutes as they looked to make it eight home wins in a row, but the visitors were defending resolutely as they looked to clinch a point that would put them joint on points with Rangers in third.

The breakthrough finally came when Ambrose turned it home from close range with his first chance just moments after being brought off the bench.

The ball was sent into the box from the left hand side before Nicky Devlin turned it across the face of the goal and Ambrose put it past Walton to make it 1-0 on the 83rd minute.

They were then awarded a penalty in injury time after Ambrose was pulled down in the box, but after a VAR check the officials found the forward had strayed offside in the build-up so the decision was overturned.

However, that didn’t matter much to the home crowd when the whistle blew for full-time to chants of “we are top of the league”.

It is third-place Rangers up next for Thelin’s men when they host the Ibrox club at Pittodrie on Wednesday.