Aberdeen ended their lengthy winless streak and moved into the fifth round of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup with a comfortable win over 10-man League Two side Elgin.
After a shaky start, Shayden Morris calmed any Dons nerves with a low finish from a Duk pass and Duk himself found the net twice in the second half to seal the victory against a home side who saw Lyall Booth sent off after 75 minutes.
This was a tie that could have proven a real banana skin for a Dons side without a win in the last 13 games and they made six changes from the 3-0 defeat at Rangers in midweek.
There was a first start for new signing Alexander Jensen, while Pape Habib Gueye was in the match squad for the first time in four months after a thigh injury.
But it was the League Two side who started brightest, the pace of Dajon Golding causing issues for the visitors’ defence as he created an opening for Lewis Hyde to fire wide in the early stages.
Aberdeen took their time to settle and it was 20 minutes in before Jensen’s cross saw Peter Ambrose head directly at goalkeeper Aidan Glavin.
But a minute later the visitors were ahead. Jensen combined with Duk on the left, the latter’s cross cleverly left by Ambrose for Morris to stroke home from eight yards.
Glavin held a Jensen free-kick before the half-hour and good pressing from Morris shortly after saw his low shot touched agonisingly wide.
Ambrose was beginning to look a real threat and he was again denied by Glavin after being slipped in by Duk as Aberdeen ended the first half strongly.
The visitors were much more sure-footed after the break and Dante Polvara slipped a fine pass to Morris early in the second period, his shot coming back off the woodwork.
Polvara himself hit over before being replaced by Gueye, who was a far different threat for Elgin to deal with.
The striker’s movement gave Aberdeen’s attack a new dimension and he was unlucky not to find the target after a rapid break set up by Graeme Shinnie and Duk.
But there was a moment of relief at the other end as Dons keeper Ross Doohan smacked a clearance off Kristers Tobers, the ball rebounding wide for a corner to the relief of the former Celtic man.
But the Dons got a deserved second goal after 72 minutes when Duk headed a Leighton Clarkson corner goalward, the ball sneaking through the clutches of Glavin and the goal given after a short delay.
Elgin defender Booth was booked for protesting the goal and that would prove costly as he was then given a second yellow card for fouling Duk.
Tobers threatened with a header before Duk rounded out the scoring with a calm, side-foot finish into the far corner deep in injury time.
