There were two goals when there might have been half-a-dozen. If Jim Goodwin last season bemoaned his Aberdeen side’s failure up front, he was tearing his hair out at times as he watched them scorn a series of chances against a plucky Dumbarton, whose only real opportunity didn’t come until twenty minutes from the end.
But the Dons, with seven new signings so far this summer, are a work in progress, although the number of misses from close range by US striker Christian Ramirez might be of concern.
Pittodrie welcomed debutant Ylber Ramadani, their £300,000 signing from MTK Budapest boss Jim Goodwin sees as a direct replacement for Lewis Ferguson, who moved this week to Serie A outfit Bologna in a £3m deal.
The German-born Albanian international showed he could well do that job, though Ferguson’s boots are big ones to fill. Goodwin, however, was pleased with the 26-year-old.
He said: "I am delighted with Ramadani especially when you consider he's only had two training session with the group. I think you could see there that he's a very fit boy as it wasn't my intention to give him 90 minutes but he wanted to stay on.
"He was enjoying it and you could see the quality and leadership that he brings to the squad. Ylber's a great age and he's a senior international for Albania who are no mugs and he's a proper player.
"There's no doubt he'll get better and you can see that he is a class act.”
Four other new signings – keeper Kelle Roos and defenders Liam Scales, on loan from Celtic, Anthony Stewart and Jayden Richardson - experienced the home stadium for the first time as Goodwin rebuilds his side following last season’s disappointing 10th place Premiership finish.
The visitors may have been under constant bombardment, but manager Stevie Farrell was far from disconsolate at the end as he praised his men’s stoicism.
"We were very resolute,” he insisted. “We knew we had to be and while we are disappointed to lose and certainly to concede the first goal from a set piece, we have a new squad with ten players coming in and we've had just three weeks to work with them.
"For them to come to Pittodrie and produce such a good performance showed the promise we have in the group.
"Our focus now is firmly on the league programme and that's why we brought on so many of our substitutes at Pittodrie, to give them game time."
Gregg Wylde, the ex-Rangers winger who spent an indifferent 2013-14 season with Aberdeen, performed well in a stoic defence, constantly kept on the back foot.
He was in the right place at the right time early on as he blocked a sizzler from Jayden Richardson, the hosts racing forward time after time.
Then, Ramadani found himself with an opportunity to score in his first game for his new club. He was one-on-one with Brett Long, but the Dumbarton keeper did well to close him down and deflect his effort away from the goal.
Even this early, Goodwin’s men were bombarding the visitors with attacks and were unlucky as Matty Kennedy’s header from Jonny Hayes’ cross cracked the crossbar.
Then Ramirez somehow did the impossible when he missed the target from two yards, skewing his shot wide before Stewart’s downwards header from inside the six yard box bounced over the bar.
The breakthrough came in 36 minutes as McCrorie attacked the ball from Hayes’ corner on the right with Dumbarton’s Ryan Blair eager to reach it first.
But the Pittodrie defender got there first with a glancing header to beat Long and give the home side a lead they richly deserved.
By the break, Goodwin must have been wondering how his free-flowing side had managed to hit just one goal. Despite a plethora of further chances, Dumbarton still managed to hold firm.
Ramirez missed from eight yards before the Reds second goal, in the 57th minute. Ramadani found Kennedy racing in from the right and the ex-St Johnstone attacker, who missed most of last season through injury, hit his first goal since January last year.
It wasn’t until the 71st minute that the Sons had their first real effort on goal as sub Ally Love found space on the right of the Dumbarton area and blasted a powerful left-footed shot to test Roos for the first time in this one-sided tie.
The Dutch shot-stopper, virtually a spectator until that point, did well with an acrobatic save.
