Innes Cameron of KilmarnockSNS

Innes Cameron added the third as Kilmarnock took advantage of Aberdeen's fragility

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland at Rugby Park

Kilmarnock produced a "perfect" Scottish Premiership performance to thrash an Aberdeen side who have now gone seven matches without a victory.

Only some excellent saves from the returning Dimitar Mitov in the Aberdeen goal - most notably from a Fraser Murray strike - and some spurned opportunities prevented Kilmarnock from winning with even more to spare.

Kyle Vassell scored the opener when he stretched for a ball swung into the box, his first touch taking him away from Mitov before he applied the finish.

Bobby Wales went close a with a couple of efforts while Murray was a threat throughout. It was his beauty of a cross that picked David Watson arriving into the box to coolly slot home the second.

Innes Cameron came off the bench and grabbed the third with a lovely chipped finish, while fellow substitute Bruce Anderson fired home from close range in stoppage time to cap a superb day for the Ayrshire side.

Derek McInnes was "very pleased" as his side dominated throughout, with the visitors outplayed, outfought and made to look a pale imitation of the team who made a storming start to the season.

"The players worked extremely hard and were united," the Kilmarnock manager said. "The crowd got involved, which really helps us.

"From the outset we carried a fight and posed them problems. All-in-all, it was a perfect performance from us."

Aside from a couple of half-chances, Aberdeen were largely redundant as an attacking force.

Now Jimmy Thelin is left to wonder how a team that looked so confident in the early part the season are now unable to reach anything approaching the level of those opening months of the campaign.

Indeed, they are now just six points ahead of fourth-placed Dundee United with a trip to Tannadice coming up on Sunday.

Can Kilmarnock make top-six push?

McInnes's side could, and arguably should, have won by more.

Finding the net has proved difficult for them recently – they had not scored more than one goal in a game since 3 November – but they do have a resoluteness and organisation in defence that means they are tough to break down.

Once they got their noses in front here it always looked like an uphill task for Aberdeen.

They soaked up everything their visitors had to offer, which was not a whole lot. Kilmarnock outworked their opponents all over the pitch and did not allow Aberdeen to establish any kind of foothold in the game.

Vassell epitomised the effort. The big striker did everything his manager would have asked of him.

He ran the channels, used his physicality to great effect, brought others into the game, got his goal and was unlucky not to get another when he was denied by a good save from Mitov.

The goals eventually came late and it was no more than the home side deserved. Continue to perform like this and Kilmarnock will soon be pushing into the top six once again.

Time for Thelin to become concerned?

Thelin is a coach who exudes a calmness no matter the situation.

The Swede never once looked like getting carried away during Aberdeen's storming start to the season, nor has he looked at all panicked during this recent winless run.

This performance must have been a concern, though. His side offered nothing in attack, looked nervous at the back and were second best in pretty much every individual battle.

All the purpose and conviction of the opening months of the season was missing in Aberdeen's play.

Graeme Shinnie and Jamie McGrath were unable to exert any meaningful influence in midfield. The attacking players failed to make any sort of impression.

The only piece of goalmouth action Duk saw was to clear a Wales first-half effort off his own line.

Other than Mitov, who made a string of good saves to keep the scoreline down, it's hard to think of a single Aberdeen player who would receive pass marks.

If this slump is not to become a full-blown crisis, this side will need to pick up very quickly.

What the managers said

Kilmarnock had 'perfect performance' - McInnes

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes: "I think the finger has been pointed at us this season for not scoring enough goals or keeping enough clean sheets, so there is a lot of validation for that. We put a big demand on ourselves.

"We defended our box really well. It took a long enough time to get the first goal. We were thinking at half-time that it could have been more."

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "We had a big away support here today a day after Christmas. We did not do enough. We must apologise to our supporters.

"I hope this was our worst performance of the season and it will not happen again. We can't hide. We need to hold our heads high and prepare for the next game. It is our job to make the performance better."

'This can never happen again' - Aberdeen boss Thelin

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