Aberdeen saw off Dundee 3:0 in the League Cup Round of 16 on Friday evening. The home side ended a barren spell against their rivals, who had won 2:0 at Pittodrie just a week earlier. K. Nisbet opened the scoring in the fifty-first minute, then added a second before M. Ntelo's strike in the fifty-seventh. Nisbet completed his brace in the sixty-third, and the tie was effectively over.
By then the match had settled into something resembling a procession. Aberdeen kept knocking on the door and eventually paid for Dundee's sloppy opening. The visitors managed only two shots on target all game, while the hosts landed nine. To be fair, Dundee had their moments in possession but couldn't find the final pass.
And here's the thing about the statistics — both sides registered fifty attacks, roughly half the possession each, but the difference lay in execution. Aberdeen's nine shots on target versus Dundee's two tells the real story. The visitors earned ten corners to seven but couldn't convert territory into chances.
Two yellow cards for Aberdeen — Toyosi Olusanya in the forty-second, Daniel Happe just before half-time — suggested a game that grew increasingly physical. Substitutions came thick and fast after the break, with six changes between the sixty-sixth and eighty-seventh minutes as both managers looked to fresh legs.
The result means Aberdeen move into the quarter-finals with momentum, while Dundee's league campaign continues without the distraction of cup football. They'll need to regroup quickly — next week brings another test at home, and the table won't reward mistakes.