St Johnstone might have liked a pre-Baltics boost but they didn’t get one as Aberdeen ran out comfortable winners in this friendly.
Saints fly out to Lithuania this week needing to overturn a 2-1 deficit in the second leg of their Europa League first qualifying round tie against FK Trakai.
With so much work to do on Thursday night, it was understandable that they left out so many first-choice players in this runout at McDiarmid Park.
The Pittodrie men didn’t reciprocate, however, and their starting line-up was packed full of familiar faces.
Aberdeen took the lead through Adam Rooney – a gift of a goal from home player Jason Kerr – then a Ryan Christie header made it 2-0 just a minute before half-time. Sub Bruce Anderson then made it three with just four minutes to go.
Saints had a youthful look to them and on the bench for the Perth men was 19-year-old trialist striker Callum Hendry, the son of former Scotland captain Colin.
After a quiet start, Rooney fired over the bar as the visitors carved out the first decent chance of the game on 12 minutes.
Two minutes later, home keeper Alan Mannus had to pluck the ball out of the air at his near post after Christie shot from a tight angle.
Saints troubled the Dons on 18 minutes when a nice move ended with Chris Kane blasting a strike goalwards, which goalie Joe Lewis did well to tip over the bar.
With half-an-hour gone, the hosts squandered a golden chance to take the lead when Kane found himself with a clear route to goal but took a terrible touch that pushed the ball way in front of him and gifted Lewis a chance to gather the ball.
Having survived that scare, Aberdeen went 1-0 up on 32 minutes when Kerr made a total hash of a passback and played the ball into the path of Rooney.
With a wee swagger, the Irishman sidestepped both Mannus and Liam Gordon before tapping the ball over the line.
Just a minute before the break, it was 2-0 to the visitors when, following a bit of keep-ball, a Shay Logan cross from the right was headed home by the impressive Christie.
Three minutes into the second half and Kerr almost turned hero for St Johnstone but he fired over at the back post.
Aberdeen, who had taken off former Dundee man Greg Stewart for Miles Storey at the interval, made a further nine changes on the hour mark.
Meanwhile, Saints gave game time to Greg Hurst, Keith Watson and David Wotherspoon.
With so many changes usually comes a drop in the quality of the game but sub Anderson kept things lively with a curling shot for the Dons on 69 minutes that wasn’t far away. Jayden Stockley then fired over the bar as the visitors looked for a third.
Keeper Mannus then came to Saints’ rescue on 71 minutes when he got his finger tips to a Frank Ross strike and sent the ball spinning away for a corner.
With four minutes to go, Aberdeen went 3-0 and when sub Anderson blasted a shot in off the St Johnstone bar.
The game then slowly but surely petered out and the Dons went back up the road with the victory.
Attendance: 1,939.
Starting line-ups:
St Johnstone: Mannus, Tanser, Millar, Davidson, Comrie, Kerr, McClean, Scougall, Gordon, Kane, Thomson. Subs: Hurst, Alston, Shaughnessy, Wotherspoon, Watson, Craig, Cummins, Hurst, Trialist.
Aberdeen: Lewis, Logan, Shinnie, Considine, O’Connor, Reynolds, McLean, Stewart, Rooney, Tansey, Christie. Subs: Stockley, Storey, Rogers, McKenna, Harvie, Storie, McLennan, Ross, Anderson, Campbell, Trialist, Trialist.
Referee: Don Robertson.
