Aberdeen 1-0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Aberdeen made it 10 home league wins in a row with a slim victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

The Dons took the lead when Jonny Hayes' corner landed at the near post, with Caley Thistle's Gary Warren deflecting in Ash Taylor's shot.

Greg Tansey headed wide for the visitors, while Hayes, Kenny McLean and Niall McGinn all missed for the Dons.

Miles Storey should have made it 2-0 but somehow got the ball caught under his feet on the goal line.

The result moves Aberdeen 13 points clear of third-placed Rangers, with the two sides set to meet on Sunday at Pittodrie.

Aberdeen may have been unable to mount a serious title challenge this season, but they are still on course for a record points tally after surpassing the run of home wins set by Sir Alex Ferguson's side in 1986.

They now need 12 points from the last seven matches to do that, but an overall run of 12 victories in their last 14 Premiership matches suggests they are up to the task.

Aberdeen impressed with their pace, intensity and variety of movement going forward in the first half, but the defence remains equally effective as they have now gone 531 minutes without conceding a goal.

Of course this was another painful night for Caley Thistle manager Richie Foran in what has been a steep learning curve for the Dubliner in his first season in the job.

No team in British senior football have won fewer league matches than the Highlanders this season and, while they are not yet entirely cut adrift at the bottom, time is fast running out to turn things around.

Inverness' Gary Warren (centre) gets the final touch to direct the ball past his own goalkeeper

The sight of five former Caley Thistle players in such an impressive Dons squad was compounded by the knowledge that current top league marksman Greg Tansey is moving to Pittodrie in the summer.

The midfielder is desperate to leave with the club still in the Premiership, but he missed one of their best chances of the evening when he headed a Henri Anier cross over the bar from six yards in the first half.

The real disappointment for Foran, though, will be that the goal they conceded was a gift for Aberdeen.

It was poor marking by the Caley Thistle defence as Dons pair Taylor and Andrew Considine contested a Hayes corner, the ball eventually deflected in by captain Warren off Taylor's strike.

Despite a battling performance, Caley Thistle simply could not find a way back into the match.

They did have a late let off, though, when former Inverness player Storey had an incredible miss when he failed to convert from point-blank range after a Hayes shot came off the post.

Post-match reaction

Greg Tansey, who last week signed a pre-contract with Aberdeen, battles Graeme Shinnie

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "We didn't have the same rhythm or flow to our game as we normally have, but there were a number of factors for that as we had the game in our pocket but didn't know whether to stick or twist.

"We are delighted to get the 10th home win on the bounce for the first time since that great Aberdeen side in 1986 with so many top players and a top manager in Sir Alex Ferguson.

"That keeps the distance between us and Rangers and we just look forward to playing them here on Sunday now but we have a lot of hard games left."

Inverness CT manager Richie Foran: "We had chances to go one up but we didn't take them then we give a goal from a set-piece which was really disappointing.

"We work hard on defending those so it was a sloppy goal to give away and Aberdeen looked more confident than we did.

"We are not going to be judged on games against Aberdeen though. We have seven must win games left and I believe we can still get enough points to get out of trouble."