Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0 Aberdeen 1: Pawlett strikes sends McInnes´ men second

​Aberdeen moved to within two points of Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic with a 1-0 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday.

Peter Pawlett struck the decisive goal at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium after 12 minutes to ensure Derek McInnes’ side keep the pressure on the defending champions. 

Pawlett provided the first moment of quality after a scrapping opening as he was on hand to fire home Niall McGinn’s cutback, the latter taking advantage of a mistake by Carl Tremarco and Josh Meekings to create the opening.

The 23-year-old tried to return the favour eight minutes later, but his wayward pass forced McGinn too wide and he was unable to get his shot away.

Billy McKay had Inverness’ best opening of the half with nine minutes to play, the striker racing past Craig Murray, only to send his curling shot just wide.

Inverness continued to push for an equaliser, but Scott Brown ensured the visitors went into the break ahead as he denied David Raven and then produced a flying save to keep out Graeme Shinnie’s 22-yard thunderbolt.

Both sides struggled to find their flow after the break until a powerful free-kick from Greg Tansey forced a superb save out of Brown.

The Aberdeen goal began to lead a charmed life with full-time approaching as McKay saw another chance go begging, this time the striker crashing an effort onto the crossbar.

Inverness’ attempts to earn at least a point were in vain, though, as Aberdeen held on to climb into second place.