A superb second-half fightback earned Aberdeen all three Scottish Premiership points at Pittodrie and consigned Kilmarnock to a 10th straight game without a win.

Tyreece John-Jules put the visitors in front on 17 minutes with a lovely dinked finish over Aberdeen goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov, having been played clean through by James Brown after Topi Keskinen coughed up possession.

Stuart Kettlewell's beleaguered side edged the first half, but were unable to maintain it into the second period as they slowly retreated further and further towards their own box.

Eventually the pressure told as substitute Kenan Bilalovic swept home his first goal for the club to equalise, before a controversial penalty decision decided the contest.

A cross landed on Brad Lyons' arm, with the Kilmarnock captain unsighted, and video assistant referee (VAR) John Beaton advised referee Ross Hardie to stick with his original decision to award a spot-kick.

Jesper Karlsson confidently found the bottom corner and Kilmarnock never looked like finding an equaliser in the limited time remaining.

Aberdeen came into this game off the back of a superb run of form, which has catapulted them into the top half of the table.

They are now unbeaten in seven league matches, with five of those wins, and once they turned it on in the second half, there only looked like one winner.

Jimmy Thelin's side had 17 shots to Kilmarnock's one, hit the woodwork through Adil Aouchiche and twice had the ball cleared off the line during one of several goalmouth scrambles.

Stuart Armstrong looked close to his best in the middle of the park, creating seven chances - the most of any player - while Aouchiche also impressed.

Despite their second-half dominance, the focus will be on the decision to award the decisive penalty kick.

Earlier in the game, Kilmarnock were awarded a penalty when the ball struck Jack Milne's arm. However, referee Hardie went to the monitor and reversed his decision after seeing Milne's arm was by his side.

In contrast, when the ball struck Lyons' arm, Hardie pointed to the spot and had his decision upheld.

Kettlewell expressed his dismay after the game and Lyons himself could scarcely believe the decision.

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "I'm really happy. The second half was really good football from our side and the goals we scored were important.

"Our first half was so bad, the touches, the connections. I know we played in Europe but we need to be better.

"The subs made a difference, but also the players from the first half improved a lot.

"It was so bad that we didn't need to say something special [at half-time]. Everything improved. They looked themselves in the mirror, stepped out like good players that they are.

"It's a tough league. It's so small margins sometimes. We need to take it game by game and be a little bit better."

Kilmarnock manager Stuart Kettlewell: "We're obviously disappointed. It was a game of two halves. We carved out some decent opportunities first half - the players performed really well in the first half. We were trying to play the game higher up the pitch.

"We rode our luck a bit at the start of the second half and then we start to settle a little bit. Once you concede two goals in the last 10 minutes, it's a bitter pill to swallow."

On the penalty decisions: "Who knows at this point? We're awarded a penalty. There's no protest from the Aberdeen player. We check it and check it and then the referee chalks it off.

"I've just looked at the Brad Lyons one there. I'm completely lost with the whole thing. That's my honest version - I don't understand it.

"Everyone will point to the bad run, but people have no idea how much these huge decisions have a bearing on people's careers, their jobs."

Kilmarnock host Falkirk on Saturday (15:00 GMT), while Aberdeen are away to Sparta Prague in the Conference League on Thursday (20:00).