THE most galling thought for Ronny Deila as he contemplated this defeat and the stark reality that his Celtic team may lose a supposed one-horse race is that Aberdeen didn’t even have to be even close to their best to win.
Celtic were odds on to be champions-elect by now. Instead, just three points and little else in terms of quality, desire and, the word Derek McInnes used to hate, bottle separate the two sides at the top of the Ladbrokes Scottish Premier League.
Aberdeen could win the title. Make absolutely no mistake about that. Celtic are a weak and average team who are better than most of the league, as if that is the boast given their many advantages, but appear disjointed and incapable of sorting out any sort of troubling situation, such as last night at Pittodrie and against Ross County four days previously.
The Aberdeen fans sang about Deila being sacked in the morning; the first time this has ever happened to a manager top of the league? They had a point. This was a clear run for Celtic to add more titles to their growing collection. The question now is whether the Parkhead decision makers will blink.
As for Aberdeen, and whisper this in the North East, the glory days could be on their way back. They thoroughly deserved this. One thing is for certain, we have a title race. Who would have thought it?
Aberdeen handed new signing Simon Church a start after only one day at the club, he scored on what was a pretty decent introduction to Scottish football, while for Celtic, Erik Sviatchenko started for the first time and Colin Kazim-Richards began on the bench.
The first chance, if you could call it that, arrived after five minutes when Nir Bitton fancied his chances with a free-kick a good 35 yards from goal. His shot made it through to Aberdeen goalkeeper Scott Brown who showed some nerves by spilling the ball before quickly making amends.
It did take a while for the game to get going. A less than perfect pitch hardly helped either team but too many passes went astray or were cut out. The game lacked any real rhythm and a shot from Celtic captain Scott Brown on 15 minutes, which flew over the bar, was a rare moment of note.
Celtic were the better team in that they had plenty of possession and Aberdeen seemed afraid to press, or win a tackle, and so for a while it was a case of cross after cross coming into the home side’s box, which they clumsily just about got clear.
However, things were about to dramatically change when just after the half hour, with what was their first real contribution to proceedings, Aberdeen scored a goal which changed this game and perhaps this season.
Head tennis between Church and Adam Rooney ended with the ball at the left foot of Hayes, a long way outside the Celtic penalty area. The angle and distance seemed to be against the Aberdeen winger and yet he struck a sweet shot and the ball zipped through the air and past Craig Gordon t his near post.
Bitton came close to an equaliser four minutes later with a similar effort which Brown had to get both hands to. But the goal had stunned Deila’s men whose inability to keep clear sheets is a stain on the entire coaching set-up.
And then they conceded another on 37 minutes from, would you believe, a corner kick. Hayes’ cross was flicked on by McLean in the six-yard box and hit Church’s knee on the way into the net while five Celtic players, including Gordon stuck on his line, looked on.
Stuart Armstrong was booked for a kick at Shay Logan, a reminder that the Celtic man was still on the pitch, and it might even have been 3-0 before half-time, Gordon got down well to keep out a Kenny McLean shot from distance that was net-bound.
Armstrong was replaced at the break by Kazim-Richards. Deila had no option but to roll the dice. The striker was booked for something he said and that was about it. Celtic came close to a goal on 59 minutes when Brown’s cross picked out Griffiths who you would have expected to better than head wide from the good position he found himself in.
Aberdeen, however, were in control. Niall McGinn went close to a third on 63 minutes with a shot from miles out, which Gordon saved, and every time Aberdeen put a ball anywhere close to the Celtic keeper’s goal, chaos ensued.
Celtic were reduced to playing high balls, the Aberdeen back five were incredibly grateful for this tactic. In saying that, Leigh Griffiths did score deep into injury time but Celtic never looked capable of saving a point. Despite this late goal, the game may rather fizzled out but the season has perhaps only just begun. These are interesting times.
Aberdeen (4-2-3-1): Brown; Logan, Taylor, Reynolds, Shinnie; McLean, Storie; McGinn (Considine 72), Church (Pawlett 75), Hayes (Smith 88); Rooney
Substitutes not used: Collin, McKenna, Robson, Ross
Celtic: (4-2-3-1): Gordon; Lustig (Allan 77), Sviatchenko, Boyata, Tierney; Bitton, Brown; Mackay-Steven, McGregor (Forrest 68), Armstrong (Kazim-Richards 450; Griffiths
Substitutes not used: Bailly, Izaguirre, Ambrose, Cole
Referee: Steven McLean
Bookings: Aberdeen (Storie 71 ), Celtic (Armstrong 44, Kazim-Richards 64, Brown 66, Tierney 84)
Attendance: 19,003
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