Aberdeen's Afeez Aremu and Nesta Guinness-Walker celebrate with Marius Muller after winning the penalty shootoutSNS

Aberdeen's Afeez Aremu and Nesta Guinness-Walker celebrate with Marius Muller after winning the penalty shootout

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

Aberdeen overcame going down to 10 men to beat Kilmarnock on penalties in a thrilling Premier Sports Cup quarter-final tie at Rugby Park.

Following a 1-1 draw, accurate spot-kicks from Alexander Briedl, Ayoub Mouloua and Jack Milne secured a 3-1 win, sparking wild celebration in the away end which spilled on to the pitch.

After an end-to-end first half, the Dons had taken the lead early in the second half when Kevin Nisbet rose well at the back post to direct Connor Ronan's floated cross past the outstretched Max Stryjek.

Aberdeen were reduced to 10 men five minutes later when Dan Happe was shown a second yellow for barging into Joe Hugill, and Killie struck level from the resulting set play as Tyreece John-Jules flicked in a smart backwards header to draw the tie level.

Nisbet had almost opened the scoring in the first few minutes of the game when Stryjek saved his first header on target, just moments before Hugill side-footed a shot wide for the home side in an end-to-end start.

A smart flick from Djenairo Daniels on the end of Aaron Tshibola's low cross went close as Killie ramped up the pressure with Tom Lowery's powerful long-range strike well stopped by Marius Muller.

Aberdeen grew into the game and had plenty of the ball but failed to create any clear-cut chances until Nisbet nodded in the opening goal early in the second half.

Not to be deterred by falling behind yet again this season, Killie rallied well leading to Happe's dismissal and John-Jules' headed leveller.

Killie lobbed a succession of enticing crosses into the box late on but failed to find a breakthrough to avoid extra time.

A remarkable string of blocks from Killie, coupled with fine goalkeeping from Stryjek, kept the game level and forced spot-kicks.

Aberdeen showed great composure after Nesta Guinness-Walker missed their first, before Killie missed three in a row despite scoring their first through Hugill.

Stephen Robinson's side join Hearts and Hibs in the hat for the semi-final draw, which takes place after Sunday's Old Firm derby at Ibrox (12:00 BST).

Kilmarnock analysis: McCann unable to stop the rot

Killie's torrid start to the season has been well documented.

No top-flight wins, out of the League Cup, conceding goals by the bucket load, and unable to create much in the way of clear-cut chances.

It has been difficult, but it may soon tip into toxic at Rugby Park.

Fans will be well aware that should results fail to turn soon, the R word will be looming around the corner.

Their spot-kicks perhaps summed up their start to the season. One decent strike that gave them some hope followed before three sub-par efforts they failed to recover from.

Where Killie go from here will speak volumes of their character. Will they be able to buck this worrying trend, or is the malaise fully set in?

Aberdeen analysis: Character in abundance for Dons

It would have been easy for Aberdeen to shrink when reduced to 10 men, but the opposite was true.

They weathered an early storm of Kilmarnock pressure after their leveller and then looked the side more likely to score a winner as the game wore on.

There have been question marks around Robinson's system, the players, and virtually everything else at the club, but this could be the cliched turning point that the club needs.

Two tricky away trips to Motherwell and Hibs follow before the international break; they need to harness the momentum from tonight.

What they said

Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann: "Clearly a disappointment. Yeah, I'm gutted.

"Everybody connected with the club, that's a real sore one tonight.

"To lose on penalties is never easy, but the manner in which we never took advantage of being a man up for a decent wee part of the 90 minutes, and then extra time, we just didn't do enough with it.

"And yeah, it's a sore one."

Aberdeen head coach Stephen Robinson: "I'm really, really proud of the players.

"You know, what they've done tonight was prove with 10 men that they're a really good side, really well organised and when we played to their strengths, down the sides of people, we looked forward, we looked positive."