Hamilton player-manager Martin Canning last night lamented his side's first-half capitulation to Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

The Dons raced into a 3-0 lead in the opening 33 minutes, thanks to strikes from Simon Church, Niall McGinn and Kenny McLean and closed the game out to move within four points of Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Celtic.

Canning said: “We didn’t start the game well.

"It was an issue for us when we went to Celtic Park, and it’s been the same again today.

“When you come up against players of the quality of Hayes, McLean and McGinn, the last thing you want to do is give away an early goal.

“I’m very angry with the first-half performance. We conceded two soft goals and we didn’t respond to it. We were far better in the second half.

"We responded better and were competing better, but by then the damage is done.

Canning admitted his gamble in handing former Swansea and Crystal Palace man Kemy Agustien a debut backfired, the Dutchman having not played since lining up in the Danish First Division at the tail end of last year.

“It was a risk to play him. I saw it would be a difficult game up here, and I thought he could get on the ball and give us a platform to build from rather than turning the ball over again and again.

"He took a knock, but I was going to make a change anyway as the gamble didn’t really work.”

Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes praised his side for their pace and energy which keeps his team in the title hunt.

"It was a strong 90-minute performance," McInnes said.

"In the first half we obviously got the goals, but the movement and speed we brought was difficult for Hamilton to contain.

“We’ve started a lot of games similarly but haven’t always managed to get the goals to match, so getting the second goal was very important to us, and the third goal knocked the stuffing from Hamilton.”