Scottish Premiership: Mayo and Nisbet strike late to help Aberdeen stun Hearts

Hearts’ miserable summer continued as they conceded two late goals to lose 2-1 to Aberdeen in their Premiership opener at Pittodrie.

Wouter Vrancken and Hearts looked on course for a much-needed victory after a turbulent few months as they led through Oisin McEntee’s first-half goal. But just as they looked to be closing out a first win at Pittodrie for more than a decade, Lewis Mayo equalised in the 90th minute before Kevin Nisbet won it for Aberdeen with a stoppage-time penalty after Stuart Findlay was sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

It was a third consecutive defeat for Vrancken, who has endured a chastening start since replacing Derek McInnes in June.

The Aberdeen manager, Stephen Robinson, whose side had built up some momentum by winning each of their four Premier Sports Cup group-stage matches, pitched Chris Cadden straight into his starting lineup a day after he joined from Hibernian.

There were five changes to the Hearts side that lost Wednesday’s Champions League qualifier at home to Sturm Graz, with the goalkeeper Beau Reus and Laurent Mendy handed their debuts and Sabah Kerjota – more than a year after joining – and Amadou Ba-Sy given their first competitive starts.

In what was their first league match since being pipped to the title by Celtic in May, the 1,600-strong travelling support could be regularly heard singing anti-Scottish Football Association songs in protest at the contentious calls from officials in the closing matches of last season that they felt cost them dear in their quest for glory.

Following a summer of transition and a 6-0 aggregate defeat by Sturm Graz that had done little to improve the mood of the fans since that agonising end to the past campaign, there was a sense of trepidation in some quarters about the prospect of kicking off the new season at Pittodrie, where they had not won in their previous 14 visits.

Hearts’ makeshift defence – with the midfielder McEntee playing at centre-half following an injury to Malachi Fagan-Walcott – looked to have allowed the Aberdeen captain Nisbet to get clean through in the third minute but McEntee recovered well to scramble the ball behind for a corner.

Nisbet then glanced a header just wide from Connor Ronan’s corner in the 27th minute, although clear chances were generally at a premium.

Hearts made the breakthrough in the 35th minute after some pinball in the penalty area. Ba-Sy’s cutback from the left broke to Blair Spittal, whose shot was blocked by Nesta Guinness-Walker on the edge of the six-yard box and the fellow defender Dan Happe’s attempt to clear ran into the path of McEntee, who shot low into the net from seven yards.

The visitors generally looked comfortable for most of the second period, with Cláudio Braga spurning a good chance to double their lead.

Aberdeen had offered little as an attacking force but they levelled in the 90th minute when Mayo bundled in from close range after Happe headed Ronan’s free-kick back into the danger area.

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The dramatic turnaround was completed in stoppage time when Toyosi Olusanya was hauled down by Findlay, who saw red, and Nisbet despatched the spot-kick.

The St Mirren manager, Craig McLeish, believes his team’s 2-0 win at Falkirk augurs well for a successful campaign.

McLeish is convinced his squad will improve on last season’s struggles before he steered Saints to safety when the interim head coach.

He has set a high bar of the top six and a European qualification bid this term, and a double from Killian Phillips helped St Mirren get off to a fine start at Falkirk Stadium.

“I thought the performance was excellent and if we can build on that we can go and achieve something as a group,” McLeish said. “I’m delighted for the group. We got the result our performance deserved. I thought we were excellent.”