Aberdeen maintained their magnificent home form and remain unbeaten against Inverness Caledonian Thistle after Barry Nicholson's late penalty secured the points.

Ross Tokely was the Inverness culprit, fouling Lee Miller eight minutes from time, and Nicholson stepped up to send goalkeeper Michael Fraser the wrong way from the spot.

Caley Thistle had been the better side in the second period but could not find a way past Jamie Langfield in order to earn a first victory over the Dons, as Aberdeen extended their unbeaten run at Pittodrie to 12 games.

Aberdeen started extremely positively, with Sone Aluko looking especially eager to please after he was preferred to Dan Smith in the only change from the team that battled to a 1-0 victory over St Mirren on Saturday.

In the sixth minute Aluko did well to find Jamie Smith in the Inverness penalty area, but before the forward could shoot he was tackled by the ever-alert Ian Black.

Smith then saw a 35-yard shot touched wide by Fraser in the Inverness goal, while Scott Severin's drive from distance not long afterwards flashed wide.

Aberdeen were on top but were failing to convert their chances and missed a pair of headers in quick succession.

Miller was off-target as he looped an effort wide following a pinpoint centre from Derek Young, then Fraser was in the right place to stop a powerful header from Lee Mair.

Inverness slowly began to make their way into the game as a threat going forward, with the strong hold-up play of Graham Bayne posing problems for the Aberdeen defence.

In the 32nd minute, Bayne and John Rankin managed to set up Richard Hastings for a chance to shoot, but the left-back's surge forward could not yield a goal as he lifted the ball over the bar.

Aberdeen remained a threat in the air despite a swirling wind making good delivery of the ball difficult.

A corner delivered by Nicholson arrived in an ideal area for Miller to attack, but once again the striker's header landed wide of goal.

Aberdeen went on to miss the attacking punch of Aluko, who drifted out of the game during the latter stages of the opening period.

But following the restart Smith was within inches of scoring as the former Celtic player just failed to reach the ball from Aluko's cross.

Inverness responded to that scare by pushing forward and Langfield had to make consecutive stops from Black's two shots within a minute.

The first save was routine as the ball landed in the goalkeeper's chest, but the second effort was far more dangerous and saw the ball tipped over.

Langfield must have been feeling over-worked as he was forced to gather a downward volley from Marius Niculae.

However, Richie Byrne helped out his goalkeeper in the 69th minute by producing a fine tackle to take the ball away from Bayne who was racing through on goal.

Caley Thistle looked determined to force the opening goal and Bayne was the next player to be thwarted by Langfield.

As crucial as that save was, it was bettered by the fingertip stop which denied Hastings as Inverness continued to push forward.

Canadian Hastings was able to utilise the space vacated by Aberdeen's substitute Jeffrey de Visscher, who was forced to leave the field of play and take off his black undergarment which matched the colours of Caley Thistle's away strip.

Frustratingly for Inverness, their strong second-half showing was then undone when Tokely bundled Miller to the turf with eight minutes remaining and Nicholson smashed the resultant penalty past Fraser.

In injury-time Nicholson came close with a drive which curled wide, but by that stage he had already earned Aberdeen all three points.

Teams

Aberdeen Langfield, Mair, Severin, Byrne, Foster,Young (De Visscher 76), Nicholson, Clark, Aluko (Lovell 64),Miller, Jamie Smith.

Subs Not Used: Soutar, Touzani, Daniel Smith, Jonathan Smith,

Crawford.

Booked: Byrne.

Goals: Nicholson 83 pen.

Inverness CT Fraser, Tokely, Munro, McGuire, Hastings, Cowie,Duncan, Black, Rankin (Hart 80), Bayne, Niculae.

Subs Not Used: Malkowski, Wyness, Vigurs, Proctor, Gillespie,

Duff.

Booked: Black, Niculae.

Att: 13,372

Ref: M Tumilty (Scotland).