Falkirk's Scott Arfield skips past Aberdeen's Jeffrey de Visscher
Aberdeen striker Lee Miller struck a double as a lacklustre Falkirk side were beaten at Pittodrie.
Miller hit the first against his former club from the spot following Gerard Aafjes's foul on Gary McDonald in the box after 11 minutes.
The home striker doubled his side's lead and his tally for the day three minutes before the break when he diverted Chris Maguire's cross home.
Steve Lovell hit a late consolation for Falkirk two minutes from time.
Aberdeen almost took the lead in the fifth minute when Lee Mair's cross looked to be heading into the net after it deflected off Falkirk's Darren Barr.
However, goalkeeper Robert Olejnik did brilliantly to tip the ball out for a fruitless corner.
Zander Diamond should have opened the scoring but he headed over the bar after Olejnik slapped at a Charlie Mulgrew corner.
Burton O'Brien then brought the best out of Jamie Langfield in the Aberdeen goal with a curling effort from 30 yards after 11 minutes.
However, it was the home side who took a deserved lead from the penalty spot.
Dutchman Aafjes brought down Gary McDonald in the box and Miller coolly dispatched the ball past Olejnik from 12 yards. It was his fourth penalty conversion of the season.
Aafjes was booked for his challenge on McDonald and Kevin McBride followed him into the referee's notebook soon after.
Langfield could have got an equaliser around the half hour mark after good work by Michael Higdon but the midfielder skied his effort over the bar from the edge of the box.
Falkirk were denied a penalty of their own when Barrett looked to have been clipped by Langfield after 38 minutes.
But as the away side looked to have weathered the storm they found themselves two down when Miller notched his second of the day.
The Dons striker stretched to divert an inviting Maguire cross past Olejnik after 42 minutes for his fifth goal of the season.
He could have netted his hat-trick just before half-time but the Falkirk keeper pushed his drive over the bar.
Falkirk started the second half strongly with Arfield testing Langfield from distance.
The away side continued to dominate proceedings with captain Darren Barr heading over an O'Brien corner that had been needlessly conceded by Langfield.
Lovell then almost grabbed one back against his former club, but his effort was diverted wide by Scott Severin.
Aberdeen responded to a awkward onslaught by making a double substitution after 70 minutes, with Derek Young and Richard Foster coming on for Maguire and Jeffrey De Visscher.
Falkirk's Lovell lashed home into the bottom corner of the net with a couple of minutes remaining for a late consolation.
Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood:
"It was appalling conditions and I thought we did wonderfully well in the first half.
"We knocked it about well, created loads of chances and dominated. I don't think Jamie Langfield had too much to do in goal.
"I was disappointed with the second half, but in all fairness I suppose John Hughes and Brian Rice had a few choice words with their players at half-time.
"It's always a strange one - do we go for the third or defend the lead? We needed leadership to push up the park. But we didn't do that and it was a sloppy second half from us."
Falkirk manager John Hughes:
"We gave ourselves far too much to do - cheap goals, a cheap penalty and we need to take real responsibility. For the second one we were defending far too deep when the cross came in.
"Our goal came a wee bit too late for us to really have a real rousing go at them.
"We were on top in the second half, but far too late. Aberdeen had the game tied up and they were just sitting in looking to hit us on the counter.
"If the player are lacking a bit of confidence I can understand that. My job's to get in about them and say, 'let's go'."
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