Kenny McLean scored a second-half winner as Aberdeen fought back to beat Ross County and move a point behind Premiership leaders Celtic.

Michael Gardyne fired County into an early lead with a 35-yard drive that keeper Joe Lewis made a real mess of.

Ryan Christie hit a superb left-foot effort into the top corner to level.

McLean's penalty, after Graeme Shinnie went down under Jamie Lindsay's challenge, made it 2-1, with both sides passing up chances to add more goals.

The win means second-placed Aberdeen closed ground on Celtic, who drew 1-1 at home with Kilmarnock.

Keeper Lewis was embarrassed by Michael Gardyne's long-range shot as Ross County took the lead

McLean, who this week told the Dons he will leave at the end of his contract in the summer, will have delighted his manager Derek McInnes, who has been heavily linked with the vacant manager's job at Rangers.

If this was McInnes' last game as Aberdeen manager, he can console himself that he is leaving them in good shape after a win that said a lot about their ability, determination and commitment.

What will not be lost on him is that the goals came from players who won't be at Pittodrie next season, with Christie's loan from Celtic ending in the summer.

Keeper Lewis is signed long term, though, and while he doesn't make too many mistakes, when he does blunder they tend to be real beauties as he proved in the team's 3-0 defeat at Motherwell in the League Cup last month.

The Englishman will not be in a hurry to see his latest howler back as he allowed Gardyne's shot to slip under his body for the opener in nine minutes.

Ryan Christie's stunning left-foot shot drew Aberdeen level

The Dons were level within three minutes after a piece of magic from Christie.

Celtic's on-loan midfielder wasn't allowed to play against his parent club in their comprehensive midweek win at Pittodrie and he quickly showed the sort of creativity Aberdeen lacked in his absence.

Christie exchanged passes with Stevie May at the edge of the penalty area before striking a sublime shot high into the top right-hand corner of Aaron McCarey's net.

Former Cardiff City goalkeeper Lewis then showed his quality to maintain parity.

Craig Curran, recalled to the starting line-up after the midweek draw at Perth, seemed certain to score after the Dons defence failed to deal with Sean Kelly's swerving cross from the left, but he was denied by Lewis making a brave block at his feet.

Irishman McCarey was in for the injured Scott Fox, who could be out for up to two months after damaging a thigh against St Johnstone, and was well protected for long spells of the first half.

Michael Gardyne (right) grabbed the opener for Ross County

He was exposed again before the break though when Scott Wright wriggled clear and his clipped cross was deflected into the path of Christie, who somehow steered his six-yard shot wide.

Aberdeen were gifted a penalty in 51 minutes when Lindsay sent Shinnie sprawling.

Greg Stewart created the chance with his strength, persistence and a cute reverse pass to send his captain clear, but there could be no excuse for Lindsay's clumsy intervention that earned him a booking.

McLean increased the Ross County player's pain by thrashing in the resulting penalty kick and only the crossbar prevented Christie scoring a third for Aberdeen with a tremendous 30-yard drive.

The home side did pass up chances to kill the game late on, but despite Owen Coyle pushing players forward to try to salvage a draw, the Ross County manager had to settle for a second defeat in his first five games in charge.

Post-match reaction

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "It was a mixed bag in the first half with the wind, which made it hard for the players of both teams, and losing an early goal but we showed real character to do so well after that.

"It was a mistake from big Joe Lewis for their goal but I don't think he had much to do after that and we got a great equaliser from Ryan Christie, which shows how important he is for us.

"It was important that we won after coming off the back of a disappointing result and performance against Celtic in midweek. We did have some good performances today and we had good moments from certain players but I thought Kenny McLean was very influential from first to last.

"I'm so pleased how positive everyone was after the loss to Celtic and we could have won by more so hopefully we can go on another winning run. I was a bit surprised at the Celtic result but that shows how things can go and if we win at Hamilton we can be happy going into the international break."

Ross County assistant manager Sandy Stewart: "We let them back into the game too quickly, because if we could have held on to the lead for longer we might have been able to frustrate them.

"We have had a look at the penalty and we have no complaints, even though we are disappointed to have lost the game. We are encouraged by the way things are going, though, and feel with a bit of luck we might actually be unbeaten right now.

"Everyone is giving us 100% and you can't ask for more, but we were unfortunate because we lost our captain Andrew Davies [on the morning of the game] with a neck problem.

"We are here to win games and we want to win more, but in no way are we disappointed with the players."