Rooney knocks the ball in from close range to make it 2-0 to Aberdeen

Aberdeen closed the gap on Premiership leaders Celtic to four points with a comfortable victory at Dens Park.

Niall McGinn lashed in the opening goal from the edge of the penalty box as the hosts failed to clear their lines.

Adam Rooney doubled the visitors' lead on 25 minutes, knocking home a Jonny Hayes delivery.

After the interval, Dons substitute Peter Pawlett hit the crossbar as Dundee's sequence of four consecutive draws came to an end.

With Celtic and Hearts inactive due to the rash of postponements across Scotland, Aberdeen made ground, making it back-to-back wins for the first time since September.

Manager Derek McInnes was delighted by what he described as the "relentless, thoughtful, intense, intelligent football" his side produced in the second half against Ross County last weekend and he must have been equally pleased that they picked up where they left off.

By contrast, Dundee have won just once in their last nine matches and while boss Paul Hartley will take some consolation from the way his men competed in the second half he knows the game was effectively settled by half time.

Dundee struggled to cope with the pace and intensity of Aberdeen's attacking play in those early stages and the only real surprise was that they only had a two-goal lead to show for it by the mid-point.

Scott Bain had already denied his former club on three occasions before McGinn steered in the opener on nine minutes.

Aberdeen were simply stronger in midfield and more imaginative in their movement in the forward areas as Graeme Shinnie fired just over.

Dundee struggled to contain Aberdeen at a blustery Dens Park

Dundee could only rarely find an out ball but they will be frustrated that referee John Beaton awarded them a free kick at the edge of the box when the foul on Nicky Low was inside the area.

The hosts were further undone by another fluent move as McGinn, Willo Flood and Hayes all combined beforea criminally unmarked Rooney drilled in his 11th goal of the season.

McGinn, who tormented his namesake Paul in the Dundee team in the first half, was replaced by Peter Pawlett at half time but it did not get any easier for the right back as Hayes was moved over to the left.

The former Caley Thistle midfielder very nearly carved out a third goal as the home defence switched off at a free kick but Taylor could only head wide from six yards.

Dundee certainly scrapped and battled more effectively after the interval but Aberdeen still created the more clear cut chances, with Pawlett twice drawing good saves from Bain and slamming a shot against the crossbar.

The busy Bain was trumped by Danny Ward at the other end in the last minute when the keeper on loan from Liverpool made a brilliant stop to prevent Kane Hemmings ending a dash past three Dons defenders with a consolation strike

Now Aberdeen can look forward to next weekend's visit from Hearts and the chance to prove that they really are back to the sort of consistency of performance they showed with their eight-game winning sequence at the start of the campaign.