Aberdeen 2-1 Livingston: 'Class' Bojan Miovski gives Barry Robson's side win
- Published
Bojan Miovski scored twice to give Aberdeen a comeback victory
"Class" Bojan Miovski proved the difference against Livingston as the striker's double earned Aberdeen back-to-back Scottish Premiership wins for the first time since September.
David Martindale's side - now winless in nine games and still five points adrift at the bottom - stunned Pittodrie with their first goal since 21 October when Kurtis Guthrie turned in James Penrice's cross.
But Livingston were unable to maintain momentum as Miovski powered in Nicky Devlin's excellent delivery with his head three minutes before the break.
The Aberdeen striker proved pivotal in the second half too as, helped by a switch in formation, Luis 'Duk' Lopes made headway down the left and eventually picked out Miovski to steer in his second of the night and 14th of the season.
It proved to be the winner despite a frantic, end-to-end finish. Livingston substitute Bruce Anderson had a brilliant chance to equalise against his boyhood club, but side-footed wide when through on goal.
And Miovski was denied a hat-trick from point-blank range by Livingston goalkeeper Shamal George, who produced a superb reaction stop to keep the deficit at one.
"The top end of the park was the difference, if I'm being brutally honest," Martindale told BBC Scotland.
"We've got to get better for the two goals, we give Miovski too much room in the box. But I've got to caveat that with he's one of the best strikers in the league. I think he's class."
Aberdeen's victory moves them up two places to eighth as they aim to get themselves back in contention for European football before the winter break next month.
Player of the match - Bojan Miovski
Bojan Miovski took both goals superbly and clinched a vital victory for his team
Aberdeen switch pays off - analysis
This was a huge victory for Aberdeen in a game they simply had to win.
Sunday's final defeat by Rangers and an end to their Europa Conference League campaign brought their poor league form into sharper focus, and dropped points against the league's bottom side, who had not scored in seven games, would have ramped up the pressure on manager Barry Robson.
But, as they did against Hearts last week, they responded to a setback. Miovski's quality in front of goal is a huge plus, and he took both of his goals in typically lethal fashion.
The big change in performance came after a switch from the usual back three to four, allowing Duk to use his pace and power down the left to set up the winning goal. Aberdeen looked far more fluid as a result with Shayden Morris also heavily involved on the other side.
That should give Robson food for thought before the weekend, with the back three set-up looking increasingly rigid in attack and ineffective out of possession too, as they conceded another soft goal.
Livingston can take heart from this performance, particularly as they managed to end their grim goal drought. They created chances and put Aberdeen under plenty of pressure.
But as Martindale himself admitted pre-match, they can't keep selling themselves hard luck stories. Anderson should have brought them level, and that proved the difference.
This was a chance to close the gap on Motherwell and Aberdeen above them, and it slipped by. It's no wins in nine, with eight defeats, and relegation is a real concern.
What they said
Aberdeen manager Barry Robson: "We had a big emotional game at the weekend, we grew into this one and got stronger. We showed good resilience to come back, I never felt under too much pressure. I didn't think Livingston created too much.
"We've got some good games coming up. We just need to concentrate on them and get ourselves up the table. It's another win, we knew this would be a difficult month, we just need to keep hanging in there and fighting."
Livingston manager David Martindale: "We created some good chances, we got behind them on a number of occasions. Wee Brucey has the best chance of the game. He's clean through and doesn't hit the target. Really that's the story of the game."
What's next?
Aberdeen travel to Dens Park on Saturday to face the side directly above them, Dundee (15:00 GMT), while Livingston are away to Celtic at the same time.