Last updated on .From the section Football

Aberdeen recorded a comfortable win over Hamilton Academical to overtake Alex Neil's side and move into fourth place in the Premiership.

Ash Taylor headed in from close range to give the Dons the lead and Niall McGinn's smart lob doubled the advantage early in the second period.

Adam Rooney clinched the win when he converted a penalty after Grant Gillespie's foul on Jonny Hayes.

Midfielder Jon Routledge was sent off to complete a miserable day for Accies.

The visitors, who won the reverse fixture 3-0 in October, faded badly in the second period and have only won one of their last seven fixtures.

The only talking point of a tepid opening was the booking of Alex Neil, despite him not being on the pitch.

The Hamilton player-manager, who was listed as a substitute, spoke out of turn to one of the officials and was shown a yellow card.

Jason Scotland threatened for the visitors, jinking his way into the box, but Taylor cleared before proving his worth at the other end.

Englishman Taylor scored his second goal for Aberdeen

The towering defender met McGinn's corner and crashed the ball past the helpless Michael McGovern from eight yards.

Ryan Jack then went close with a dipping volley from 25 yards after Shay Logan's dangerous cross was only partially cleared.

Home goalkeeper Scott Brown was not troubled at all in the first half but he presented Accies with a chance a minute before the break.

His misplaced pass fell for Tony Andreu, who teed up Ali Crawford, but the midfielder failed to hit the target with a shot from 20 yards.

Any chance the visitors had of getting back into the match vanished within 10 minutes of the restart as they conceded two self-inflicted goals.

First, a dreadful Stephen Hendrie pass went straight to McGinn and the Northern Irishman lofted a delightful 25 yard effort over the head of McGovern.

Then, four minutes later, Gillespie was penalised for a needless barge on Hayes and Rooney converted the spot-kick.

Accies threatened to wilt. Taylor had a header well saved by McGovern, then McGinn's rasping angled drive struck the crossbar.

It was all very comfortable for Aberdeen and a bad afternoon for the visitors got worse with 10 minutes remaining when Routledge was sent off for lunging in on Jack.

More pain should have been inflicted on Hamilton with three minutes remaining when the Dons substitutes combined, Jeffrey Monakana squaring for Lawrence Shankland, only for the young striker to balloon his shot over from close range.

Rooney beat McGovern from 12 yards