Aberdeen draw shows Celtic lack a Bojan Miovski as fans make their point with Pittodrie protests

Dons’ number nine proves a thorn in Celtic side – he is a player fans wanted club to sign

Celtic's Nicolas Kuhn celebrates scoring the equaliser against Aberdeen. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

A first-ever point at Pittodrie against a Brendan Rodgers-led Celtic team stopped the rot at Aberdeen – if rot is not too strong a word to describe a few unhappy weeks.

It certainly stopped the booing – from the Aberdeen fans, at least. “Sack the board, sack the board!” was chorused from the away section. A banner was quickly produced after the final whistle as well: “Celtic Board – On Your Heads Be It”.

As for manager-less Aberdeen, although the 1-1 outcome was the same as against Dundee on Tuesday, this was far more acceptable fare from the hosts after a first half when they were fortunate to finish with zero. In the end they were slightly unfortunate not to take all three points.

Aberdeen's Bojan Miovski celebrates after opening the scoring against Celtic. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

It looked like being a long afternoon ahead for Aberdeen when Luis Palma tapped into an empty net after seven minutes. A long VAR check eventually confirmed the Celtic forward had strayed marginally offside.

It was an early test for the technology after a communication problem had held up kick off following an emotional minute’s applause for former Aberdeen skipper Ally Shewan, the original ‘Iron Man of Pittodrie’, who died aged 83 a few days ago.

A difficult week, then, for Aberdeen. How they needed this. Shewan would have been proud of the way his old team took the game to Celtic after a tame first-half performance. “Just relax” they were urged by caretaker manager Peter Leven at half-time. He failed to heed his own advice. Asked at the end if he had enjoyed the first experience of being his own man in the dugout, he replied: "At the final whistle, aye!"

Leven was already notable for being the first Aberdeen manager, caretaker or otherwise, to be born after Gothenburg ’83 – September of that year in his case.

The 40-year-old coach has made a swift impact as Aberdeen continue sifting through the candidates to replace Barry Robson. Leven says he has no idea whether he will still be in charge at Ibrox on Tuesday for the second part of an Old Firm challenge that could have come at a better time.

Perhaps Aberdeen have nothing much left to lose. The shackles came off in the second half. They struck just four minutes after half time after springing into action following the breakdown of a Celtic attack. Dante Polvara released Miovski, who still had a considerable amount to do as he bore down on Maik Nawrocki, who had been booked in the first half for a bodycheck. Rodgers was angry that Miovski was able to shuffle the ball onto his favoured left foot.

The striker then curled a delicious shot beyond Joe Hart for his 19th goal of the season. It means he has bettered last season's tally of 18 already. It was not what Rodgers needed at any level, since, of course, Miovski is one striker Celtic fans will feel the club should have been in for during the transfer window.

Even Rodgers made a reference to Miovski's prowess afterwards when reasoning that the home team will always have some "moments" in the game, especially when they have such a "good striker".

Celtic have Kyogo Furuhashi of course, although he was a peripheral figure here, but they lack a No.9 like Miovski. Whether Adam Idah, a deadline day loan signing from Norwich City, fits the bill remains to be seen. The Irishman was involved in the equaliser, scored by fellow substitute Nicolas Kuhn shortly after Rodgers had resolved to change things via a triple substitution.

Surprisingly, Nawrocki wasn't one of those taken off. He was enduring a tough time and escaped what seemed a cast-iron second yellow for a late challenge on Miovski.

The Pole looked spooked by the Aberdeen centre forward as the hosts suddenly began expressing themselves. Killian Phillips saw an audacious attempt from 40 yards drop narrowly past. It had developed into an exciting contest between two sides with very different problems.

This was a meeting of the malcontented and while a quick look at the league table might tell you why in the case of Aberdeen, it would be harder to explain to a visitor from Mars the exact nature of the Celtic fans’ gripe.

One might start by pointing them towards the visitors’ bench, which, while containing plenty of youth – and what is the point of a bench if it doesn’t contain a healthy contingent of up-and-coming talent? – also looked slightly lightweight.

James Forrest, who’s at the other end of the scale in terms of his career, returned to the squad for the first time in a month, although most of the attention was on a new pair of faces beside him – new signings Kuhn and Idah.

Both look like decent acquisitions – the former in particular – but through no fault of their own, they are presented as evidence of lack of ambition on the part of the Celtic hierarchy.

Perhaps the fans have a point. The visitors lacked cutting edge and paid for their failure to make the most of eye-popping possession percentage figures in the opening 45 minutes. Despite having so much of the ball, it wasn't as if they even came close to scoring until Paulo Bernardo dinked an effort onto the top of the bar at the close of the first half.

Celtic were reliant on Kuhn making an almost immediate impact off the bench to secure a point. The winger panicked the Aberdeen defence after cutting in from the right and exchanged passes with Matt O’Riley before losing possession momentarily. Idah stepped in, shaped to shoot and then squared the ball to Kuhn, whose left footed drive into the corner was aided by a slight deflection off Nicky Devlin.

Aberdeen will feel they should have retaken the lead once more midway through the second half when Graeme Shinnie was denied by Hart. Life would currently be a lot more difficult for Celtic if it had been Miovski and not the Aberdeen skipper on the end of Leighton Clarkson’s cutback.