Aberdeen advanced to the next round of the Scottish Cup by fighting off a spirited challenge from Arbroath in a game which at times was played in atrocious conditions.
In the opening stages, the home side more than matched their Premier League opponents and they created the first chance of the game when Marc Millar intercepted a Michael Hart pass and played in Gavin Swankie, whose low shot was saved by Ryan Esson.
However, Aberdeen opened the scoring with their first attack shortly afterwards. A Chris Clark corner eluded everyone and was retrieved by Steven Tosh on the right wing. From his cross, Markus Heikkinen beat his marker to the ball and powered a header past Neil Inglis in the Arbroath goal.
While the Arbroath keeper was helpless in stopping Heikkinen's effort, luckily for Arbroath he was on hand to stop Aberdeen extending their lead after 17 minutes. Darren Mackie broke clear of the home defence and cut the ball back to strike partner John Stewart, but his effort was well blocked by Inglis.
The pace of The Dons' strikers was the main difference between the sides, giving them a cutting edge up front, and after 37 minutes they once again split open the Arbroath rearguard. Tosh's through ball sent Stewart clear, but he was denied by another fine save by Inglis and Mackie's follow-up effort was blocked by Steven Rennie.
Aberdeen doubled their lead in the 66th minute thanks to a well worked move.
Tosh played the ball in for Stewart, and his neat lay-off allowed Mackie time and space to curl a shot into the far corner.
The returing Noel Whelan then replaced Stewart, and he almost scored with his first touch but his volley was pushed away by Inglis.
From then, Arbroath's challenge slowly petered out and in the end this was a relatively comfortable victory for Aberdeen.