Aberdeen’s miserable start to the season continues with defeat at Dundee United

Dundee United moved up to third in the William Hill Premiership and heaped major pressure on Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin with a 2-0 win over the Dons at Tannadice.

Goals either side of half-time from Ivan Dolcek and Bert Esselink left Aberdeen rooted to the bottom of the table without a goal in five matches.

Thelin had demanded his side perform the fundamentals of football better after Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup defeat by Motherwell but they were ultimately undone by two aerial balls and could have conceded more as United moved above Hibernian in the table.

Stuart Armstrong hit the bar for the visitors and Jesper Karlsson forced two saves but there was no sustained threat from Thelin’s side as they suffered a sixth defeat in nine matches this season.

Aberdeen have now won just five of their last 32 league games and Thelin might well have run out of credit with the Dons board following the club’s Scottish Cup triumph in May. The United fans certainly thought so as they chanted “sacked in the morning”.

The Aberdeen fans filled the ‘Shed’ end at Tannadice and gave their team major backing for the first half while latching on to brief signs of a resurgence in the second period.

But some fans vented their anger after the break and the Aberdeen board will likely be heading into crisis talks ahead of Saturday’s trip to Motherwell.

Thelin made three changes in midfield with captain Graeme Shinnie among those dropping to the bench but United started on the front foot and Will Ferry was close to converting Zac Sapsford’s driven ball across the face of goal.

Karlsson sent a free header wide and forced a save but most of the first-half pressure was at the other end. Dimitar Mitov saved well from Sapsford’s deflected effort and Esselink headed wide from a corner.

Mitov saved a one-on-one from Dolcek after Sapsford did brilliantly to set his strike partner up on the break, although the Australian was handed a yellow card and penalised for a foul on Sivert Nilsen after referee Steven McLean delayed his decision.

The opener came in the 45th minute as Dolcek fired his fifth goal of the Premiership season into the bottom corner from 18 yards after a header fell into his path.

Nicolas Milanovic curled wide as Aberdeen attempted to fight back in the second half but they were two down inside five minutes when the unmarked Esselink headed home from six yards after Vicko Sevelj had flicked on a corner.

The game threatened to spiral further out of Aberdeen’s reach. Mitov parried well from Dolcek, Krisztian Keresztes fired into the side net from 20 yards, several blocks prevented United from hitting the target in a spell of sustained pressure and Sevelj shot just wide from long range.

There were signs of a rally as Armstrong hit the crossbar from 25 yards and Yevhenii Kucherenko denied Karlsson with his feet from the rebound.

But Aberdeen could not seriously threaten to break their Premiership duck again and Thelin and his players stood and surveyed the scene of a half-empty away stand largely displaying their anger after the final whistle.