Christie at the double as Aberdeen cruise to Scottish Cup win over St Mirren

Posted Saturday, January 20, 2018 by PA

Aberdeen made light work of William Hill Scottish Cup fourth-round opponents St Mirren as Ryan Christie scored twice in a 4-1 victory.

An early Adam Rooney penalty nudged the Dons ahead before Christie netted either side of Gavin Reilly’s strike for the visitors.

Gary Mackay-Steven added a fourth after the interval for Aberdeen as their top-flight class told against the Buddies.

The home side showed no sign of rustiness after their winter break, and were in front after just eight minutes. Greg Stewart teased Stelios Demetriou into a foul challenge inside the area, and Rooney fired home the resulting spot-kick.

Stewart, who was showing good form prior to the winter break, was keen to respond to the challenge provided by the return to Pittodrie of Niall McGinn.

The former Dundee man cut in from the left flank before stinging the palms of Craig Samson in the St Mirren goal with a powerful drive, which the keeper pushed away for a corner.

Championship side St Mirren were keen to show the threat they could pose, and after 15 minutes Kyle Magennis worked space for a shot from Lewis Morgan’s pass, but Joe Lewis was equal to it.

They were soon two goals behind, as Mackay-Steven pulled Graeme Shinnie’s pass back into the path of Christie, who placed a low, six-yard shot into the back of the net.

The deficit was halved after 25 minutes. Demetriou dispossessed Stewart in the Aberdeen right-back area, and set up Morgan who saw his shot parried by Joe Lewis. Reilly was handily placed to turn home from close range.

The two-goal lead was restored when Shay Logan pounced on a defensive error to stand a cross up for Christie to head home his second of the afternoon, another close-range finish.

St Mirren could have come up with an immediate response as Morgan lofted an effort into the side-netting after Mark Reynolds’ poor clearance left Lewis stranded.

The second half was just over a minute old when Aberdeen struck for a third time as Mackay-Steven angled a superb drive from the corner of the box across Samson and into the corner of the goal.

That killed the game as a spectacle, but there was some interest for the home support with the introduction of McGinn midway through the second half, and he almost provided a goal to boot, sending a half-volley just wide of the target.