Another Sunday, another winner from Dons star

Lewis Ferguson scored his second winner in successive Sundays as a clinical Aberdeen came from behind to win 2-1 at Kilmarnock.

The 19-year-old curled home a free-kick in the 87th minute to rescue three points from a generally shot-shy performance.

Kris Boyd netted his first league goal of the season from a 32nd-minute penalty and the Dons took 73 minutes to get their first shot on target.

But substitute Bruce Anderson’s effort found the net as he diverted Niall McGinn’s shot home and Ferguson added to last weekend’s Hampden winner over Rangers.

The defeat prevented Killie moving above Rangers into third in the Ladbrokes Premiership while Aberdeen joined Livingston and Hibernian on 18 points.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes hailed the reliability and maturity of Ferguson.

“In the last three games he’s played three different roles,” McInnes said.

“Here he went from being a number 10 to a number eight in the second half. In midweek, with the way Hamilton shape up, he played as a four in front of the back four and ran the game.

“There’s a boy that’s had to deal with everything that came his way last Sunday.

“Some youngsters can get carried away.

“His temperament has never been in question. He’s a boy but he’s a man. Nothing fazes him.

“He takes responsibility and there’s a maturity about him that I love.

“He’s still making contact and winning more headers and tackles than anyone else. Then he comes up with the free-kick.

“He can do a bit of everything. But for me his best is as an attacking midfielder and I think he will score important goals, as he has done this week.

“It’s important we don’t expect too much from him but I know what I’m going to get most weeks. Some days will be better than others but he always brings a good performance.”

McInnes admitted a scout would have struggled to work out Aberdeen’s game plan in a “half-hearted” first-half display but he was delighted with their second-half response.

Even then it took the Dons 73 minutes to get a shot on target, but substitute Bruce Anderson’s effort found the net as he diverted Niall McGinn’s strike home.

Killie stepped up a gear but somehow found themselves losing a game they had appeared in control of for the majority of the play.

“That’s football,” said manager Steve Clarke.

“If you have as much control of a match that we had then you have to create a few more opportunities and get the second goal, which would have put the game to bed.

“We didn’t do that.”

Picture: SNS Group. Aberdeen’s Lewis Ferguson celebrates his goal in the victory against Kilmarnock.