Tensetieatpittodrie seesgameebbandflow
ABERDEEN 2 Mcginn (77), Kamberi (95) LIVINGSTON 2
Emmanuel-thomas (37, pen 93) (Extra-time being played)
Derek Mcinnes watched on from the television gantry as Livi gave successor Stephen Glass a hot reintroduction to the Scottish game.
In the end, the game went all the way to penalties.
Out of work after parting company with the Dons at the beginning of March, Mcinnes took up an offer from broadcasters BT to join them and do a bit of punditry on the tie.
And what he witnessed was a reminder of the stresses of the post he filled for eight years and which have now fallen squarely on the shoulders of the new man.
Glass, whose previous post was as manager of Atlanta B in America, lost his skipper Joe Lewis to an accidental injury in the first half.
Then before Lewis’s replacement, Gary Woods, had time to adjust to his surroundings, he was beaten by Jay Emmanuel-thomas.
The tie was fiercely contested from the off with
Emmanuel-thomas’s muscular challenge on Jonny Hayes forcing the Irishman to walk it off.
That set the tone and within a couple of minutes it was the turn of Livingston full-back Jackson Longridge to hit the ground.
Aberdeen were the first to put anything creative of note together – though they did get a hand from the visitors.
Jason Holt was caught sleeping in possession in midfield and lost the ball to Lewis Ferguson, who spread it wide left to Hayes who in turn drove a low cross into the middle of the box.
Connor Mclennan was alive to the plan and he darted across from the right to meet it. He got a good contact on the ball but opened up his foot too much and sent his shot wide.
A fine pass from Niall Mcginn then sent Matty Kennedy in behind the Livi back line on the same side.
The winger did a great job to tee up Fraser Hornby in the box whose snapshot forced keeper Max Stryjek into a diving stop.
Stryjek’s opposite number, Lewis, was winded in an earlier collision with Jon Guthrie who fell into the keeper as he went up to collect the ball.
Although he played on for a while, he was clearly not right because he indicated to the bench he would have to come off.
That handed a debut to Woods, ex-hamilton Accies
and up on loan from Oldham.
The 30-year-old Englishman did not get time to catch his breath before he had to pick the ball out of the net.
To be fair to him, Livingston’s goal was more than decent.
Emmanuel-thomas darted in from the right and played a neat one–two with Scott Pittman who delayed just long enough before playing the big striker in.
Eight yards out, and with only Woods to beat, he shot low into the corner of the net.
The goal was against the run of play but it gave a lift to the game, adding urgency to the play of both teams.
Hendry came off the bench to score the winner in the previous round against Dumbarton and here, with a fifth round tie at home to Dundee United up for grabs, he looked eager to make up for lost time.
And he got his reward for his enterprise, with Aberdeen drawing level.
Counter attacking on a Livi move, Hayes dashed down the Dons left and sent the ball across the face of the box.
Guthrie hung his leg out in an unsuccessful attempt to clear. With time and space, Mcginn finished in style curling the ball into the corner.
Extra-time goals – an Emmanuel penalty and an equaliser from Florian Kamberi – saw the tie go all the way to penalties.
REF WATCH: COLIN STEVEN kept decent control of a highly competitive encounter.