The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Stunning finale sees Dons into last eight
SCOTTISH CUP: Last-gasp own goal seals trip to St Mirren for Aberdeen
KILMARNOCK 3 ABERDEEN 4 (AET)
Aberdeen dug as deep as they ever have under Derek Mcinnes to somehow book their place in the last eight of the Scottish Cup in a seven-goal thriller at Rugby Park last night.
The Dons trailed until the 88th minute, led by the 91st, were behind again with four minutes of extra-time left then somehow scored twice to book a trip to St Mirren next Saturday.
Mcinnes reverted back to the threeman defence which served him so well at Hamilton with Niall Mcginn once again pairing Curtis Main in attack.
The home side grew in confidence after creating an early chance and it was the visitors who found themselves being called to defend as Killie pushed on.
Joe Lewis was not tested but there were enough balls bouncing in the box to cause some nervous moments and by the 20-minute mark the Aberdeen boss decided to revert to a back four.
It took until the 38th minute for the first corner of the night to come but it wasn’t worth the wait as Killie cleared. However, a moment of real quality saw the home side go ahead two minutes before the break. A Chris Burke cross was not cleared and Mohamed El Makrini beat Lewis with an acrobatic overhead kick.
Mcinnes made a triple substitution for the start of the second half with Shay Logan, Dean Campbell and Sam Cosgrove replacing Dylan Mcgeouch, Connor Mclennan and Craig Bryson.
The second half became a classic cup tie with Aberdeen pushing forward while Killie hit on the break.
It looked as if Aberdeen’s dream was coming to an end but Andy Considine stooped low to glance Mcginn’s corner past Laurentiu Branescu with two minutes left. The Dons nearly won it in injury-time when Mcginn crossed for Cosgrove and his header hit the bar.
In extra-time there was an extraordinary scoring spree as the tie ebbed and flowed.
Matty Kennedy put Aberdeen ahead in the 92nd minute with his first goal for the club since his move from St Johnstone but a stunning Eamonn Brophy free-kick levelled for the hosts.
With just three minutes remaining, Killie thought they had won it again when Nicke Kabamba put them 3-2 up but that was instantly cancelled out by a Sam Cosgrove penalty.
And in stoppage time, Connor Johnson scored an own goal from a Considine cross to seal Aberdeen’s win.