Aberdeen 0 Hearts 1

Hearts left Pittodrie with all three points amid chaotic scenes, as Aberdeen completely lost their discipline and had two players ordered off.

A 13th-minute goal from Andy Kirk, after a good corner from Paul Hartley, split the sides and gave Hearts a deserved Bank of Scotland Premier League victory.

The Dons were reduced to nine men in the second half, David Zdrilic and Steve Tosh both falling foul of referee Craig Thomson following two bookable offences each.

Tosh's sending-off after a foul on Austin McCann 12 minutes from time infuriated Dons assistant Duncan Shearer who raced on to the field to confront the Hearts man and had to be restrained by the fourth official.

Aberdeen remain second bottom of the table and have lost six of their seven home matches this term.

They did not make the wholesale changes Steve Paterson promised after their last defeat against Motherwell - but he did drop defender Phil McGuire for Alexander Diamond and left Paul Sheerin on the bench to allow Kevin Rutkiewicz a starting role.

The Dons initially showed some of the spirit Paterson has been demanding and were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty in the third minute when a Scott Muirhead cross appeared to strike Alan Maybury on the arm.

But Hearts strode into the lead from a well-worked set-piece by Hartley. His cross picked out Kevin McKenna to nod into the path of Kirk who helped the ball into the top corner above a despairing Tosh.

Ten minutes later Aberdeen lost Kevin McNaughton to injury and brought on Scott Morrison.

They were nonetheless unlucky not to draw level in the 34th minute.

Scott Booth found Zdrilic inside the area with a deep cross - and after the Australian had peeled off his marker, he bulleted a header against the bar and back out.

The frustration got to Booth, who appeared to aim a kick at Maybury on the hour only for the referee to overlook the offence and instead reprimand the Hearts man for his protests.

Zdrilic was less fortunate in the 69th minute when he was sent off following some heated exchanges.

First Eric Deloumeaux went in hard on McKenna and was given a yellow card as Thomson tried to defuse a game which was already threatening to boil over.

Seconds later, Zdrilic squared up to the Canadian and left the referee no choice but to book him and therefore have to send him off for a second yellow card.

In the 78th minute, Tosh also went after a late tackle on McCann.

When Shearer lost his cool he was at least allowed to remain on the touchline rather than being sent to the stand.

The hosts might even have levelled the match with minutes remaining, had Anderson managed to direct Scott Muirhead's corner into the net from six yards.

Teams:

Aberdeen Preece, Rutkiewicz, Anderson, Diamond, McNaughton (Morrison 24), Tosh, Deloumeaux (Sheerin 83), Heikkinen, Muirhead, Zdrilic, Booth (Mackie 82).

Subs Not Used: Kris Robertson, Hinds.

Sent Off: Zdrilic (69), Tosh (78).

Booked: Anderson, Zdrilic, Tosh, Deloumeaux.

Hearts Gordon, Pressley, McKenna (Valois 87), Webster, Maybury, Severin, Wyness (Stamp 72), Hartley (MacFarlane 77), McCann, de Vries, Kirk.

Subs Not Used: Moilanen, Weir.

Booked: de Vries, Maybury, Webster.

Goals: Tosh 12 og.

Att: 9,687

Ref: C Thomson (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com