Date	Sunday, 29 December 2013
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Aberdeen 1:0 Ross County
Venue	Pittodrie Stadium
Attendance	11,602
Referee	Callum Murray
Comments	Match Report Report from the BBC. Aberdeen 1 Ross County 0 A fine free-kick from Aberdeen youngster Nicky Low was enough to see off Ross County at Pittodrie. It was an explosive start from the Dons with the 21-year-old curling into the net within the opening minutes. The expected hail of goals did not arrive though despite the home side's dominance, and Scott Vernon had a penalty saved by Michael Fraser. County never looked like getting back on level terms as they continue to struggle near the bottom of the table. Despite the three points it was a frustrating afternoon for Aberdeen, who for the second home game could not turn their possession into more goals. However, the result takes them up to third in the Scottish Premiership ahead of a crucial clash with Dundee United on New Year's Day. With Wednesday's trip to Tannadice on their minds, Derek McInnes elected to rest a couple of his men. Captain Russell Anderson was replaced by the returning Mark Reynolds, and Low made a rare start ahead of Barry Robson. It took the young midfielder just two minutes to make an instant impact. After Stuart Kettlewell had brought down Peter Pawlett, Low stepped up and confidently and fired past Michael Fraser. The Dons kept up the early pressure and were awarded a spot-kick when Dutchman Marc Klok knocked over Pawlett in the area. However, Vernon's right-foot shot was at the right height for Fraser and he denied the Englishman to keep County in the game. That did not shake Aberdeen's confidence and the one-way traffic continued with Vernon twice going close and Low firing just over from the corner of the box. County survived another scare before half-time, Scott Boyd deflecting Niall McGinn's cross off his own post after good play down the left-hand side by the Northern Irishman. Adams switched Orhan Mustafi for Gary Glen in an attempt to get more joy up front in the second half, but the hosts continued on the front foot. But for all their possession it was a frustrating second half for the Dons. McGinn twice fired wide and substitute Cammy Smith tested the goalkeeper, but they could not force Fraser into a real save of note. At the other end, County never did enough to give the hosts a fright. Derek Adams felt his side deserved credit for their defensive performance in the 1-0 defeat by Aberdeen. Nicky Low's curling free-kick gave the Dons a dream start, and Scott Vernon could have made it 2-0 with a penalty shortly afterwards. However, Ross County held firm, and Adams believes his side did well to restrict Derek McInnes's men. "Defensively we've been able to keep them to 1-0, they haven't really had another opportunity," said Adams. The result was County's fifth straight league defeat, and they rarely looked like getting on the score-sheet at Pittodrie. Adams said: "We're finding it hard to get a victory, but that's just the nature of the season we're having. We've got to keep on plugging away and wait until we get reinforcements in to help move us up the league. "I never feared the worst because I know how well we can defend. Aberdeen had a lot of possession but never opened us up and between the two goalkeepers, neither really had a save to make. "We did very well defensively and kept Aberdeen down to virtually nothing in the game. They scored the free-kick and, apart from Michael's [Fraser] penalty save, he's not really had another save to make. "We've had games where we've had a lot of the ball and not really done anything with it and I think that was the case for Aberdeen today. "They didn't really open us up and you could hear the crowd were frustrated and think they should beat a Ross County side by more than they did. "Aberdeen have had a really good start to the season and have won with a free-kick today. We lost two set-pieces against Hibs and today we lost to a set-piece that probably wasn't a free-kick in the first place."
Ross County
Manager	Derek Adams
Starting 11	20: Michael Fraser, 3: Benjamin Gordon, 4: Stuart Kettlewell, 5: Scott Boyd, 8: Richard Brittain, 9: Orhan Mustafi, 16: Alex Cooper, 18: Mark Klok 1, 21: Brian McLean, 22: Steven Saunders, 23: Graham Carey
Bench	1: Mark Brown, 6: Branislav Micic, 10: Rocco Quinn, 11: Melvin De Leeuw, 14: Darren Maatsen, 15: Gary Glen, 19: Kevin Luckassen
Aberdeen
Manager	Derek McInnes
Starting 11	Jamie Langfield, Joe Shaughnessy, Michael Hector, Mark Reynolds, Ryan Jack, Nicky Low 1, Peter Pawlett, Jonny Hayes, Niall McGinn, Scott Vernon, Willo Flood
Bench	Nicky Weaver, Barry Robson, Josh Magennis, Russell Anderson, Gregg Wylde, Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Smith