Ross County suffer heaviest defeat of the season so far as first blood of double header against Aberdeen goes to the Dons
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Aberdeen 4 (Miovski x2, Duk, McGrath)
Ross County 0
Ross County did not get their double header against Aberdeen off to the start they would have liked as they suffered their heaviest defeat of the season at Pittodrie.
Dons boss Barry Robson was looking for his side to avoid a European hangover, and they did that in some style with a 4-0 victory over the Staggies.
Bojan Miovski was at the double, while Duk was back to his goalscoring best with Jamie McGrath also finding the net to send the travelling County support home disappointed and empty-handed.
There was an early blow for the hosts as summer arrival James McGarry was forced off through injury, being replaced by Jonny Hayes in just the sixth minute.
Although both teams tried to move forward at pace when they had the ball, the early going was broken up by plenty of physicality that saw two other Aberdeen players require treatment too – although they were able to continue.
The opening goal, though, did come around midway through the first half from an Aberdeen corner.
Connor Barron's out-swinging delivery was played on by Richard Jensen towards the back post, where Bojan Miovski was poised to fire into the back of the net from close range.
County did try to respond immediately, with James Brown seeing an effort deflected on to the side-netting, but it was clear which team were in the ascendancy.
James Baldwin tried to see the ball out of play on County's left-hand side only to be overpowered by Duk, and the Cape Verde international played the ball inside to Miovski, who passed it on to Jamie McGrath – only for the Irishman to see Baldwin clear his shot away.
Duk continued to be a thorn in the side of the Staggies, turning brilliantly inside County's penalty box and forcing a brilliant stop out of Ross Laidlaw to keep the score at 1-0.
There would be nothing Laidlaw could do to prevent Duk finally finding the net at the end of the first half, though, as Aberdeen took full advantage of a quick counter attack – and full control of the match.
It was initially Hayes who broke forward with the ball after a County free kick was cleared, playing it past Baldwin to Graeme Shinnie who looked to have the goal at his mercy.
At one stage it was a four-on-one in the Dons' favour, and while they were almost guilty of overplaying the ball it eventually fell to Duk to squeeze in to make it 2-0 to the hosts.
The score could have been even more one-sided before the break, as the last kick of the first half saw Miovski go close with a curling effort that had Laidlaw diving at full stretch, only for the ball to go just wide.
Any hopes Ross County will have had of a second half comeback were quickly dashed when Aberdeen went three goals ahead in the 47th minute.
Shinnie's long ball forward was kept alive by Miovski on the right side of the box, and while County may have thought the ball was going out of play the forward crossed for an unmarked McGrath to finish from close range.
Things went from bad to worse for the Staggies in the 52nd minute, when Duk did well to backheel the ball under pressure into the path of Miovski, who powered his shot past Laidlaw and into the net for the Dons' fourth.
From there, both managers seemed to accept that the points would be staying in the north east, making a raft of changes that did not help the flow of the play.
When things did settle down again, the Dons seemed content with seeing out their comfortable lead and hitting the Staggies on the counter attack – leading to passages of play where County tried to break Aberdeen's 11 men down without success.
Josh Sims did go close with around 10 minutes left on the clock, trying to curl his shot into the far corner from the right-hand edge of the box, and although his effort was not a million miles away it did go over the bar.
It was not to be for Malky Mackay's men, though, as they could not find even a consolation to make the scoreline a little more respectable by the time the final whistle was blown.
Aberdeen: Roos, Devlin, Shinnie, Jensen, Gartenmann, McGrath (Clarkson 54), Barron, Miovski (Gueye 72), Duk (Sokler 72), McGarry (Hayes 6 (Mackenzie 54)), Rubezic.
Subs not used: Doohan, Polvara, Duncan, Macdonald.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Brown, Baldwin, Nightingale, Leak, Reid (Harmon 74), Randall, Turner (Loturi 54), Dhanda (Sims 54), Murray (Brophy 60), White (Samuel 74).
Subs not used: Munro, Purrington, Henderson, High.
Referee: Don Robertson
VAR: Willie Collum
Attendance: 15,116
