Recap

Aberdeen began their Scottish Premiership campaign with a deserved victory over Hamilton Academical.

Anthony O’Connor cleverly headed home Greg Tansey’s free-kick to open the scoring after 26 minutes at Pittodrie.

Accies’ Xavier Tomas was shown a second yellow card after the interval for a cynical block on Ryan Christie.

And the dominant, but profligate Dons killed the game in the final minute of normal time when Miles Storey curled the ball across Gary Woods.

Manager Derek McInnes made four changes to the Aberdeen side that started the Europa League third round qualifying defeat by Apollon Limassol on Thursday with Kari Arnason, Tansey, Nicky Maynard and Scott Wright drafted in.

It was an attempt to freshen the team up after the physical and emotional demands of that disappointing loss, but also a chance to judge the strength of the squad for the season ahead.

The performance of Wright in particular must have been a source of satisfaction for the Dons boss, who has backed the winger to exert a big influence during the domestic campaign.