Aberdeen 3 Hamilton 0

Aberdeen kept up the pressure on Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic, with an emphatic 3-0 victory over a lacklustre Hamilton side 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.

Though there would be no further goals, the job was already in what, at times, resembled a training game for Derek McInnes' side who move within four points of the Ronny Deila's men at the top.

McLean had already hit the upright before Church netted his fifth Dons goal after just five minutes.

The lively Jonny Hayes dispossessed Antons Kurakins before whipping a cross to the near post where Church rose unchallenged to head home.

McGinn doubled the advantage when he easily took the ball from Ziggy Gordon following goalkeeper Michael McGovern's ill-judged pass, before rolling the ball coolly through the legs of his international team-mate and into the net from 18 yards.

Hamilton's Oumar Diaby was within a couple of feet of pulling a goal back as he just failed to reach a Dougie Imrie cross on a rare foray forward for the visitors, but the game was to be put beyond their reach soon after.

Graeme Shinnie combined with Hayes on the left, before the former Inverness defender cut the ball back for new Scotland cap McLean to fire high into the net.

Hamilton's Kemy Agustien was forced off through injury with five minutes of the first half remaining, and Aberdeen were also forced into a change at the break, with Andy Considine taking the place of Ash Taylor at the heart of the defence.

Such was the home side's dominance in the first half, it would have been nigh-on impossible to match that fluency after the interval, and so it proved.

The visitors looked much better organised and, indeed, forced Scott Brown into two saves soon after the break. Imrie's low shot was comfortably gathered by the goalkeeper, before a Diaby header saw him rise well to push over the crossbar.

McGinn seemed to be on a one-man mission to add a third goal but spurned a trio of chances, before Willo Flood popped up in the most unlikely of positions, two yards from goal, only to fail to connect with the ball when any touch would have found the net.

As the game entered its dying stages, a Mark Reynolds header saw McGovern make another fine save, pushing his effort over the crossbar.