A brace from Darren Mackie fired Aberdeen into the quarter-finals of the Tennent's Scottish Cup and kept the Dons on course for their first piece of silverware for more than a decade.

In-form Mackie hit his ninth goal of the season in the 15th minute, only for Jags player-boss Craig Brewster to equalise.

Mackie moved on to double figures with an excellent finish in the 34th minute to wrap up passage to the next stage.

The Dons' margin of victory should have been much wider and it would have been, had striker Noel Whelan not completely abandoned his touch in front of goal.

Caley started brightly and had the Dons on the back foot for much of the opening stages.

They pinned Aberdeen down and forced three corners in quick succession on the right-hand side.

Richie Hart's first two deliveries caused some problems, but it was the third that brought about real panic for the men in red shirts. Brewster powered his way in ahead of his marker and met the cross with his forehead, only for it to smack back off the outside of the post.

Aberdeen had been rather subdued throughout the first quarter of an hour, but produced a goal which made a mockery of their previous weeks' drought. It was route-one football, but devastatingly effective as Kevin McNaughton's deep cross hung in the air for Mackie, who had positioned himself in between Ross Tokely and Grant Munro.

Goalkeeper Mark Brown was committed to coming off his line, but got stuck mid-way and was helpless as Mackie's header sailed over his head.

Characteristically, this provoked a rapid response from Thistle and they restored parity in the 24th minute. Again the goal came from a simple long ball, but its effectiveness was just the same.

Brewster powered his way in ahead of Michael Hart to meet Richie Hart's sweeping cross from the right, and simply toe-poked a shot high into Ryan Esson's net with little fuss.

The Dons reclaimed the lead in the 34th minute with Mackie's 10th goal of the season. He intelligently followed in on Jamie Winter's ferocious shot and reaped the reward when Brown could only palm into his path.

He still had some work to do, especially as the former Rangers goalkeeper was frantically trying to block his progress, but coolly blasted home regardless.

Brewster tried an adventurous effort right on the stroke of half-time, but his 40-yard lob sailed well over the crossbar.

Aberdeen should have opened up a further gap within five minutes of the restart, but Whelan missed a glaring chance after approaching Mackie's perfect cross far too casually and hopelessly shinning his shot back to his team-mate from point-blank range with the goal at his mercy.

Mackie did well to retrieve the situation and tee a cross up for Craig to head but he thundered his effort off the bar.

Both sides freshened up with a change apiece in the 71st minute. Roy McBain and John Stewart were introduced in place of Richie Hart and Craig.

Caley tried to chase the game towards the end, but the Dons rearguard held firm and edged closer to Hampden.

Teams

Aberdeen Esson, Hart, Anderson, Byrne, McNaughton, Mackie (McGuire 88), Heikkinen, Winter, Clark, Craig (Stewart 69), Whelan (Adams 80).

Subs Not Used: Blanchard, Morrison.

Booked: Clark.

Goals: Mackie 15, 34.

Inverness CT Brown, Tokely, Dods, Munro, Golabek, Wilson, Duncan, Juanjo (Fatai 77), Hart (McBain 70), Bayne, Brewster.

Subs Not Used: McCaffrey, Prunty, Jonathon Smith.

Booked: Hart.

Goals: Brewster 24.

Att: 10,595

Ref: W Young (Scotland).