Kilmarnock 1-2 Aberdeen

Miller took his goal tally for the season to 10 at Rugby Park

A Lee Miller double gave Aberdeen their fifth win in six league matches as they came from behind to beat Kilmarnock.

Alan Russell capped a bright opening spell by the home side to score from eight yards after 10 minutes.

Despite Kilmarnock dominating Aberdeen drew level on 30 minutes when Miller flicked past Damien Rascle.

And the striker sent a looping header over the Killie goalkeeper with half an hour remaining to lift the Dons up to fourth spot in the table.

The victory belied a sluggish start by Aberdeen who exhibited a lack of concentration in the opening minutes.

Kilmarnock tried to exploit that with Jamie Hammill side-footing over from 20 yards and Russell hitting the side netting.

The Ayrshire side were looking for their first home win since mid-November and reaped the rewards of their early pressure on 10 minutes.

Garry Hay's fierce shot ricocheted kindly off team-mate Danny Invincibile to Russell who riffled the ball in to the net.

Aberdeen were struggling to find any rhythm and were conceding possession easily.

Russell had a chance to double Killie's lead from a corner on 20 minutes, but the striker's header was deflected wide as the Dons defence failed to track his run.

As Kilmarnock pressed for a second Craig Bryson had a shot deflected over, before Gary McDonald's header shaved the post for Aberdeen.

The Dons levelled against the run of play when Miller cleverly flicked Charlie Mulgrew's corner past Damien Rascle on the half-hour mark.

Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield produced an excellent save to deny Bryson after good play by Willie Gibson, before Russell had another header hacked off the line by Andy Considine.

The visitors came out after the break with more purpose and turned the game around when Miller sent looping header over Rascle from Darren Mackie's cross on 59 minutes.

Sone Aluko had the chance to increase Aberdeen's lead but the Englishman took too long to fire off his shot and Manuel Pascali got back to clear before Rascle prevented a Miller hat-trick with a good save.

As Aberdeen dug in deep to protect their lead Gibson and Donovan Simmonds both had late chances to equalise but the Dons held on to leave Ayrshire with all three points.

Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies:

"We deserved something, we were the better team in the first half but when you make errors like we did you only get punished.

"Their goalkeeper's made two or three saves and we were really praising the team at half time.

"But I thought the second half we didn't start well and we gave them too much space and they took confidence from that.

"It wasn't until we went 2-1 down that we showed a response and had them under pressure but nothing fell for us in the box."

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood:

"I thought we started very poorly and Kilmarnock were all over us, but they got a fluke goal after the ball came off somebody's chest.

"Lee Miller got us a goal out of nothing but I was very, very angry at half time and I thought the second half we created more chances.

"Kilmarnock threw everything at us, but we've got a wonderful result at a very difficult venue.

"They were two wonderful strikes by Lee Miller. He's got so much talent for a big lad and tonight he's answered a little bit of criticism."

Kilmarnock: Rascle, Hamill (Taouil 72), Hay, Wright, Pascali, Gibson, Fowler, Bryson, Invincibile, Russell (Simmonds 76), Fernandez.
Subs Not Used: Bell, Murray, Skelton, Flannigan, Nolan.

Booked: Pascali, Gibson, Taouil, Fernandez.

Goals: Russell 10.

Aberdeen: Langfield, Foster, Mulgrew, Diamond, Considine, Severin (Mair 82), Kerr, McDonald, Aluko, Mackie, Miller.
Subs Not Used: Bossu, Wright, Duff, De Visscher, Maguire, Paton.

Booked: Considine, Mackie, Diamond.

Goals: Miller 30, 59.

Att: 4,354

Ref: E Smith.

BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Aberdeen's Lee Miller 8.75 (on 90 minutes).

Please note that you can still give the players marks out of 10 on BBC Sport's Player Rater after the match has finished.

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