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 fiv

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