Aberdeen keep title heat on Celtic as Palaversa ensures Hearts Hell continues in Pittodrie thriller – 3 talking points

Thirteen proved lucky for Aberdeen as they survived a Hearts storm to keep pace with Celtic at the top of the table.

It looked for all the world that Jimmy Thelin’s were going to drop their first points of the season. But Liam Fox's visitors let them off the hook big time with some woeful finishing before Jorge Grant's red card sparked the Reds into life and they sneaked a late victory after finally putting the Jambos under some pressure towards the end.

If Hearts had in fact turned a corner in Azerbaijan, they'd retreated back round it after just two minutes at Pittodrie Stephen Kingsley was dispossessed in a dangerous area, and that allowed Topi Keskinen to shoot from an angle, the ball cannoning off Kye Rowles and leaving Craig Gordon helpless.

The Dons almost undid their early good fortune when Lawrence Shankland was presented with the ball in their box, dead centre of goal. But he fired straight at a grateful Dimitar Mitov. The Hearts skipper then missed another glorious chance at the back post before Jorge Gant sent a Daniel Oyegoke cross straight at Mitov as the Jambos threatened a leveller.

In fairness, Hearts weren't playing like a team at the bottom of the table and the equaliser was deserved when it arrived. Mitov flapped it a Penrice corner and Shankland sent the ball to the back post over the stranded keeper, where Frankie Kent was on hand to stoop and head home from close range.

Another golden opportunity went begging just before half time. Yan Dhanda's crossing again caused problems and he picked out Rowles but he mistimed his jump and sent a free header narrowly wide.

The capital club should have gone ahead early in the second period. Kenneth Vargas darted in on goal and rather than sliding Shankland in