Aberdeen ran riot at Dens Park, scoring seven times without reply as Dundee were totally destroyed on their home pitch.
It was shootie-in at times and a Friday night horror show for the Dark Blues and their supporters.
Crucially, the players have to somehow not let this hammering at the hands of the dynamic Dons destroy their confidence ahead of what is now an even more important match at Ross County on Tuesday night.
The Pittodrie side quite simply superb in the first half and scored through Andrew Considine, Adam Rooney, Kenny McLean and then Considine again.
After the restart, Pittodrie skipper Ryan Jack made it 5-0, Niall McGinn added another and then Considine got his hat-trick..
The result meant Celtic will have to wait to lift the Premiership title but after this magnificent display you were left wondering why this excellent Aberdeen team hadn’t run the Hoops closer this season.
The hosts made a couple of changes, with the injured Marcus Haber ruled out and Henrik Ojamaa dropping to the bench. Into the side, which lined up with five across the midfield, came Nick Ross and Farid El Bakhtaoui, who was the lone striker.
Paul McGowan was making his 100th appearance for the club, with Cammy Kerr and Darren O’Dea hitting the half-century.
The Dons were unchanged as they attempted to keep the Celtic champagne on ice.
Dundee raced forward with just a couple of minutes gone and Mark O’Hara just took too much time in lining up his shot and it was blocked.
Rooney tried to capitalise on indecision in the home box but couldn’t get a proper toe on the ball then, with seven minutes on the clock, the visitors showed their threat from cross-balls when Considine glanced a header over.
On 13 minutes, a determined run up the left from Kevin Holt earned a corner for the Dens men. Tom Hateley took it and O’Hara’s header wasn’t too far away.
Graeme Shinnie sent a weak drive wide for the Dons then they took the lead on 17 minutes – surprise, surprise from a header.
The Dundee defenders couldn’t say they hadn’t been warned as Considine all too easily nodded into the net off a corner from the right by Jonny Hayes.
Dark Blues keeper Scott Bain then came to the rescue two minutes later when he dived to his left to palm away a clever flick from Rooney.
Aberdeen, as they had done most of the time the teams had met this season, were torturing the Dark Blues with balls into the box and it was totally predictable that they got the second goal from that source on 24 minutes.
Shay Logan was the provider this time, dinking a cross in from the right that was met by Rooney’s head and guided into the net with Bain beaten.
It was 3-0 on 34 minutes and it seemed Aberdeen could score at will now.
As the Dons drove forward, Shinnie stayed on his feet and sent the ball to his right to McLean, who took a touch then blasted a low, right-foot shot past Bain.
It was four on 39 minutes when Shinnie crossed to the back post and there was Considine, unchallenged, to head into the net for his second of the night.
It was a bruised and battered Dundee team that trudged off at half-time, while the dandy Dons got a deserved standing ovation from their fans.
Unsurprisingly, the hosts made changes at the interval and on came Craig Wighton and Ojamaa to replace Tom Hateley and Ross.
At least Dundee showed some fight in the first minute of the second period, with a decent shot from El Bakhtaoui whizzing wide following a fine run from Ojamaa.
Shinnie fired over from distance for Aberdeen but on 51 minutes it was 5-0.
Hayes seemed to skip effortlessly into the home box from the left and then squared the ball. He wasn’t aiming for Jack but it reached him anyway and the Pittodrie skipper smashed his shot into the net off the base of Bain’s left-hand post.
The away side were trying to pile on the agony and McLean almost raised the roof off the away end with a 30-yarder that was just too high.
Dundee’s Kevin Holt sent a header wide at the back post on 66 minutes but the Dons weren’t quite finished yet and grabbed a sixth on 73 minutes
McGinn, who will be leaving Pittodrie in the summer for the English Championship, was in the right place – ie smack-bang in front of goal – to sweep home a cutback from the right by sub Ryan Christie.
Sadly from a Dundee perspective, there was still time left for Considine to grab his hat-trick from close range after a freekick into the box by was headed on by on 83 minutes.
It was sheer agony for the home fans and you couldn’t blame those who headed home long before the final whistle finally put the Dark Blues out of their misery.
Attendance: 7,314.
Dundee: Bain, Holt, Vincent, O’Dea, Hateley (Ojamaa 46), O’Hara, Ross (Wighton 46), McGowan, El Bakhtaoui, Kerr, Gomis. Mitchell, Williams, Klok, Higgins.
Aberdeen: Lewis, Logan, Shinnie, Considine, Taylor, McLean (Christie 61), Rooney, McGinn (Ross 74), Hayes (Wright 69), O’Connor, Jack. Subs not used: Alexander, Pawlett, Anderson, Storey.
Referee: Alan Muir.
