Aberdeen booked a trip to Hampden for the League Cup semi-final at Ross County’s expense after a 2-1 win in Dingwall.
Graeme Shinnie’s thunderbolt in the eighth minute set the tone for the match, which was not helped as a contest by Jack Baldwin’s red card six minutes later.
A first competitive goal for Ester Sokler seemed to have wrapped up the win, but Kyle Turner’s late penalty did set up a nervy finish that the Dons saw out for victory.
The Staggies would have been looking for a strong start to remind their visitors what they are capable of after a 4-0 defeat at Pittodrie in the league last Sunday, but instead they went behind early on.
With just seven minutes on the clock, Stefan Gartenmann’s throw in was only half-cleared by Will Nightingale to the edge of the box. Shinnie lined up a volley – hitting it perfectly to clip the underside of the crossbar and in, leaving Ross Laidlaw helpless in goal.
Five minutes later, the situation went from bad to worse for County as their captain Baldwin was sent off.
He was trying to beat Duk to a long ball over the top of the defence, but when a tussle sent the pair to the ground just outside the box Baldwin was deemed to have denied a goalscoring opportunity and was shown a red card.
Bojan Miovski almost doubled the advantage towards the end of the first half with a chip over Laidlaw, but he got a little too much power on the shot, which landed on the roof of the net.
An unfortunate serious injury to Josh Sims in the second half provided the catalyst for County to throw on an extra attacking player.
However, that only meant more space for Aberdeen to exploit going forward and they grabbed a second on the counter attack when Leighton Clarkson picked out an unmarked Sokler to score with his first touch, just seconds after coming on.
County got a goal back with eight minutes left, as Alex Samuel was fouled by Slobodan Rubezic inside Aberdeen’s box with Turner expertly converting the penalty.
Although that set up a frantic conclusion to the match, County could not find a leveller to force the game into extra time.
The result means Ross County’s seven-year wait for a return to the national stadium goes on, while Aberdeen reached the final four of the League Cup for the second successive season.
Al Hilal crowned Saudi Pro League champions after Al Hazm hammering
Al Hilal secured their fourth straight Saudi Pro League title after Aleksandar Mitrovic starred in Saturday's 4-1 thrashing of bottom side Al Hazm.
Faiz Selemani restored parity after Mitrovic's 15th-minute opener at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, only for Jorge Jesus' hosts to roar back and be crowned champions with three games remaining.
Ahmed Al Juwaid's own goal handed the initiative back to the dominant Al Hilal, who led 4-1 at the break after Mitrovic added another to his tally and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was on target.
The second of Mitrovic's strikes took him to a team-leading 26 league goals this term as Al Hilal breezed to another title, moving an unassailable 12 points clear of Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr.
Jesus' side are unbeaten through all 31 games this season after securing their record-extending 19th top-flight crown in history, while Al Hazm need to win their last three matches to have any chance of staying up.
Al Hazm's relegation rivals Al Tai boosted their chances of survival in Saturday's earlier clash after a 1-1 draw away against Al Raed.
Al Tai are just a point away from 15th-placed Abha Club in their bid for top-flight safety after Ibrahim Al Nakhli's strike was cancelled out by Al Raed's Mohammed Fouzair in the second half.
Al-Ittihad 0-5 Al-Ettifaq: Ekambi scores hat-trick in five-star display
Karl Toko Ekambi netted a hat-trick as Al-Ettifaq got back to winning ways in style with a 5-0 thrashing of Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League on Friday.
He scored twice in four minutes at the end of the first half to send the visitors into the break 4-0 up before getting his third just 10 minutes after the break.
Seko Fofana had already given Steven Gerrard’s side the lead five minutes into the contest, while Moussa Dembele doubled their advantage from the penalty spot.
Al-Ittihad had the chances, but they could not find the back of the net, as they stayed fifth, but are now just six points above Al-Ettifaq.
Data Debrief: Clinical finishers
Al-Ettifaq had five shots on target against Al-Ittihad, scoring with all of them while creating an xG of 3.62.
With his hat-trick against Al-Ittihad, Ekambi has now scored 11 goals for the season, netting more than once for the first time since joining the club.
Al-Akhdoud 2-3 Al-Nassr: Brozovic stunner delays Al-Hilal coronation
Marcelo Brozovic scored twice – including a fine half-volley in second-half stoppage time – as Al-Nassr beat Al-Akhdoud 3-2 to delay Al-Hilal's Saudi Pro League title coronation on Thursday.
Former Inter midfielder Brozovic fired in a seventh-minute opener from outside the area before Cristiano Ronaldo tapped into an empty net to double the visitors' lead.
Sadio Mane struck the woodwork early in the second half and Al-Nassr relinquished control of the game from there, with goals from Hassan Al Habib and Saviour Godwin making it 2-2.
However, Brozovic blasted a bouncing ball home following a goalmouth scramble in the first of seven minutes of stoppage time to hand Al-Nassr a fifth straight win and keep them within nine points of Al-Hilal, with three games still to play.
They have only delayed the inevitable though as the leaders – who have only dropped four points all season – need just one more point to secure their crown ahead of facing Al-Hazm on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Brozovic upstages Ronaldo
While it's usually Ronaldo writing the headlines for Al-Nassr, he was upstaged by Brozovic on Thursday as the Croatian found the net with both of his shots, also leading all players on the pitch for final-third passes (19) and completing 90.1 per cent of his passes overall (81/95).
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