Aberdeen put their William Hill Premiership woes behind them to reach the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Morton at Cappielow.
The Scottish Cup holders have endured a miserable start to the league season, but victory was rarely in doubt following two goals in the space of six minutes in the first half.
Skipper Sivert Heltne Nilsen headed home the opener after 32 minutes and Kusini Yengi tapped in shortly after to put Jimmy Thelin’s men in total command.
Dougie Imrie’s side worked hard to try and force their way back into the contest in the second half, but Dons goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov enjoyed a quiet afternoon.
And with 11 minutes remaining Leighton Clarkson was released by Toni Keskinen and produced a deft chip over the keeper to put gloss on a much-improved showing from the Pittodrie side.
Following back-to-back defeats to open their league campaign, the Dons looked keen to get back on track during the early exchanges.
A lack of attacking spark has been an issue as they have failed to score in either of those games and it was on show again as they dominated possession without posing much of a threat.
Alexander Jensen’s cross was cut out by James Storer in the Morton goal just as Yengi looked set to pounce.
Jensen stumbled when bearing down on goal in the 14th minute. The winger seemed unsure whether to cut the ball back for Yengi or pull the trigger and in the end did neither.
There were shouts for a penalty from the home players when Michael O’Halloran’s shot appeared to strike the arm of Alfie Dorrington, although referee Matthew MacDermid was unmoved.
Morton were dealt a blow with 27 minutes on the clock as their target man Tomi Adeloye limped off to be replaced by Kian Taylor.
The deadlock was broken just after the half-hour mark.
Nilsen connected perfectly with Adil Aouchiche’s corner to the near post, arrowing his header beyond the helpless Storer to notch his first goal for the club.
Aberdeen doubled their advantage five minutes later.
The Morton keeper could only parry Shayden Morris’ shot as far as Nicolas Milanovic, who laid the ball to Yengi to tap home from a yard out.
The hosts had it all to do in the second half and they began on the front foot, trying to utilise their physical threat by launching a barrage of crosses into the Aberdeen area.
An error from Morton’s Iain Wilson almost proved costly in the 62nd minute, the midfielder caught in possession on the edge of his own area, allowing Keskinen to burst in on goal.
The Finnish winger brought out a good stop from Storer, who sprung back to his feet to brilliantly keep out Fletcher Boyd’s powerful effort on the rebound.
The result was put well beyond doubt when Clarkson raced on to a through-ball and coolly dinked his finish over Storer in the 79th minute.
Keskinen’s strike was deflected on to the bar as Aberdeen looked to heap on further misery and Yengi then picked the wrong option after doing well to outmuscle Cammy Ballantyne.
