Scottish Premiership: Aberdeen 2-2 St Mirren

Kenny McLean takes the plaudits from his St Mirren team-mates after netting the late leveller

Kenny McLean's late penalty earned St Mirren an unlikely point at Pittodrie as Aberdeen were left counting the cost of missed chances.

The Dons took a deserved 2-0 lead through goals from Mark Reynolds and Peter Pawlett.

But Callum Ball's quickfire reply and McLean's spot-kick, after Reynolds had handled, claimed a share of the points.

The result ensured the Buddies picked up just their fourth point of the season, having played eight games.

Aberdeen went into their fourth home game in 11 days looking for their fourth consecutive win. They had defeated Ross County and Inverness in the Scottish Premiership either side of a 4-0 League Cup victory over Livingston.

The early threat came from the home side with Jonny Hayes testing St Mirren goalkeeper Marian Kello from distance while Buddies defender Marc McAusland picked up a yellow card for a crude challenge on David Goodwillie.

St Mirren were passing the ball well enough but were not really testing goalkeeper Jamie Langfield, until defender Ash Taylor made a mistake with an attempted back-pass. Gregg Wylde raced in on goal but his tame effort was saved by Langfield.

Peter Pawlett fires home to give Aberdeen a 2-0 lead against St Mirren at Pittodrie

Soon after the keeper was well beaten following a neat move by St Mirren, but McLean's drive from outside the area clipped the bar on its way over.

Adam Rooney had scored four goals in two games going into this one but the striker squandered a glorious chance to edge the Dons ahead, nodding wide at the far post.

Kello then did well to block David Goodwillie's close-range effort after the striker latched on to Rooney's knock down.

The hosts began to create plenty of chances and just before half-time the opener arrived. St Mirren failed to deal with a corner and after Goodwillie's back-heel was blocked, the ball broke to Reynolds and he drilled it home.

Pawlett grabbed the second after the break, smashing a shot beyond Kello when Hayes' cross eventually fell to him after Goodwillie was unable to finish.

Mark Reynolds (right) is dejected after giving away the penalty that allowed St Mirren to snatch a point

It looked like game over, but only for a few seconds.

Slackness from Taylor allowed Wylde to race upfield and when he crossed into the area, Langfield was indecisive and Hayes hesitated, allowing Ball to finish from a tight angle.

The Dons responded to that setback by frantically chasing the third goal that would finally put the game beyond St Mirren's reach, but efforts from Shay Logan, Goodwillie and Rooney were kept out by Kello.

And with just minutes left to play, John McGinn sent a cross into the area and Reynolds handballed, leaving referee Crawford Allan with little choice but to point to the spot. McLean showed composure from the spot to put St Mirren level.

Still the chances came for Aberdeen but they were unable to find the goal their play merited.