ADAM ROONEY came off the bench to score a last-minute winner for Aberdeen on a night which had extra time and a penalty shootout written all over it from the first whistle.

The Irishman’s excellent header gave his side what in the end was a deserved win and it takes Derek McInnes and his players to within touching distance of another major final. St Johnstone were stuffy and had chances themselves, but the men in red were the stronger of the two sides in this quarter-final in the North East.

But a goal had seemed so unlikely for so much of the contest and most of those inside Pittodrie had settled down for this tie to be decided from spot-kicks before the ever-reliable Rooney did what he does better than most.

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There was a startling lack of quality between two of the country’s strongest teams. Too many long balls were played down the channels and had referee Craig Thomson blown his whistle for every trip or pull of the shirt the game would have lasted beyond midnight.

However, if McInnes and his men go on to lift the Betfred League Cup then few if any will remember this match.

Aberdeen’s 19-year-old James Maddison was superb, Graeme Shinnie seemed to enjoy wearing the captain’s armband while goalkeeper Joe Lewis made one great save moments before the winner went in.

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There wasn’t much in it by the right team won.

Aberdeen suffered a setback before a ball was kicked when Johnny Hayes felt his hamstring during the warm-up and had to pull out. He will be doing well to be fit for the much-anticipated visit of Rang-ers this Sunday. Niall McGinn came in for the influential winger.

Aberdeen had the best of the early possession and played some good stuff at times but St John-stone’s players kept getting in the way of their shots of which there were many.

The home side were busy enough and made St Johnstone move around the pitch in look of a kick. However, it was the Perth men who got the game’s first shot on target when Danny Swanson on 33 minutes forced Joe Lewis into a smart save his front post.

Then at the other end, McGinn’s free-kick wasn’t defended properly, the ball came to Kenny McLean outside the box and his shot looked to have the beating of St Johnstone goalkeeper Zander Clark only for his captain Steven Anderson to stick out a long leg to make a vital block.

The home side came close once again just before the break. Maddison, who looked capable of creat-ing something every time he got the ball and his superb pass gave McGinn a ball to chase down the left wing. He got in a low cross, Wes Burns got to the ball but he was off balance and his effort went past the post.

In Burns’s defence, he had just got back on his feet after the momentum of an attempted cross took him over the advertising boards and onto the track.

If St Johnstone were ever going to do anything then it was going to come from Swanson and a curling effort from him not long after the restart wasn’t too far away from a goal. He was at it again on 51 minutes with a fine effort from 25 yards which skimmed the net.

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And on the hour Aberdeen’s McLean missed a great chance when, from a superb Maddison corner, he met the ball on the volley hardly more than six yards out and put his shot high over the bar.

The ball was in the Aberdeen net on 67 minutes when David Wotherspoon thought he had scored but was denied by the linesman’s flag. It was the correct decision but for a moment it seemed as if the of-ficial was going to let it go.

In the closings minutes of the 90, St Johnstone came within an inch of a winner when a quite superb free-kick from Wotherspoon was pushed onto the crossbar by Lewis in the Aberdeen goal.

And that save turned out to be so important for Aberdeen.

With the board about to be out up for injury time, the excellent Shinnies sent in a cross from the right, substitute Adam Rooney got a jump on Anderson and aimed his header into the corner of the net.

Aberdeen: Lewis, Logan, Taylor, O'Connor, Considine, Shinnie, McLean, Maddison (Reynolds 90), McGinn, Burns (Pawlett 70), Stockley (Rooney 70)

Substitutes not used: Alexander, Reynolds, Storie, Storey

St Johnstone: Clark, Shaughnessy, Anderson, Gordon, Easton, Wotherspoon, Paton, Davidson, Swan-son (Craig 77), MacLean, Gormley (Coulson 48)

Substitutes not used: Mannus, Alston, Kane, Craig, Cummins, Comrie

Referee: Craig Thomson

Attendance: 8829