Chris Maguire was the hero for Aberdeen as his brace in a 2-1 home win over Falkirk ensured the Dons qualified for the top six of the SPL.Maguire netted a dramatic injury-time winner in Aberdeen's 4-3 victory over Inverness last time out and the striker handed the Dons a 21st-minute lead in this match, diverting the ball into the net after Zander Diamond had flicked on Scott Severin's throw-in.
Falkirk equalised shortly after the restart when Derek Soutar found Scott Arfield's cross too hot to handle allowing Carl Finnigan to pounce, but with eight minutes remaining Sone Aluko did extremely well to keep the ball in play and Maguire controlled the winger's centre to score from the tightest of angles.
The hosts struggled to cope with Falkirk's adventurous 3-5-2 formation in the early stages and with 10 minutes played Jack Ross found room to cut the ball back to Finnigan, who saw a low drive draw a good save from an alert Soutar.
In a contest of such high stakes, that scare should have served as a warning for the lacklustre Dons to immediately tighten up at the back.
But within a minute Finnigan rose purposefully to direct a firm header just wide as a lively Falkirk continued to look the most likely side to break the deadlock.
Despite the Bairns' early promise, it was Aberdeen who took the lead when Severin's throw-in was turned into the net by a combination of Diamond and then Maguire.
Falkirk responded in determined fashion to that setback and should have equalised shortly afterwards, only for Graham Barrett to drive his shot into the side-netting with just Soutar to beat.
In the aftermath of that chance, Aberdeen moved into the ascendancy and looked to make Falkirk pay for their profligacy.
Maguire's deft touch sent Richard Foster racing towards goal and Robert Olejnik did well to charge from his line to make a strong block from the midfielder's stabbed effort.
The rebound fell to Aluko and although he did well to create a shooting opportunity, there were too many bodies in front of goal for him to thread the ball through.
Maguire was clearly relishing the chance to impress manager Jimmy Calderwood, doing his best to cause Falkirk's defenders problems.
In the 43rd minute he spun away from his markers on the edge of the 18-yard box to launch a drive at Olejnik which the goalkeeper confidently gathered in the last real action of the opening period.
With Jackie McNamara replaced by Darren Mackie during the interval, Foster retreated into the left-back berth and he was soon a busy man, sliding in with much determination to thwart Barrett.
Another opportunity may have fallen by the wayside for Falkirk, but they soon restored parity thanks to an astonishing blunder by Soutar
It appeared a driven cross from Arfield had been comfortably cut out by the goalkeeper at his near post.
But the ball squirmed from Soutar's grasp and Finnigan profited by bundling the ball into Aberdeen's net from barely a couple of yards out.
Aberdeen pushed forward in haste to try and find the goal they desperately needed to pip Falkirk to sixth place in the standings in the final game before the split.
Yet the better opportunities continued to fall to Falkirk and Finnigan was again wasteful, this time when he made a poor connection with a shot-cum-cross from Barrett.
Just how costly that miss proved to be was not apparent until the 82nd minute, when Aluko managed to keep the ball from rolling behind for a Falkirk goal-kick and Maguire took a touch before rolling the ball inside Olejnik's far post with no margin for error.
More Football News from TEAMtalk
