Aberdeen 1-1 Celtic: Dons peg back a jaded Celtic

This was one for the statisticians, a day when Celtic’s run of not having conceded a goal for over ten hours was surrendered when debutant Andre Blackman put through his own net, an afternoon when Aberdeen extended their unbeaten run to 12 games, a run dwarfed by Celtic’s own record of not having lost any of their last 25 domestic games.

This was the first time Celtic have dropped points since October, and was Aberdeen’s eighth draw in their last 12 games, but there were also enormous upsides for both sides. Celtic’s position at the top of the SPL remains unassailable and Aberdeen’s drive to secure a place in the top six remains alive, so this should surely have been a result that spread joy and harmony at both Pittodrie and Celtic Park. Some chance.

“It was no surprise [that we drew] considering the call-offs and the schedule,” said a clearly angry Celtic manager Neil Lennon, whose humour wasn’t improved when his side’s beauty sleep was disturbed by the midnight music from a wedding party staying at their hotel on Friday night. “There was tiredness there, physical and mental, and a lack of quality in the final third, so it [a draw] was totally understandable in the circumstances. The schedule played as much of a part in this result as Aberdeen.”

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If Lennon was rightly aggrieved at having to field a side shorn of five usual starters thanks to a midday kick-off on the Saturday after many of his best players were involved in midweek internationals, his assessment was also more than a little harsh on an Aberdeen side which is sorely depleted by injuries but played with a gumption and desire which augurs well for the rest of their season.

In fact, so well did Aberdeen play in the game’s second half that it was their manager Craig Brown who seemed to be the most irritated that his side couldn’t claim all three points.

Charlie Mulgrew, who was still fielded by Lennon despite seeing service for Scotland, was the fulcrum around which Celtic operated, the midfielder showing no ill-effects from his midweek outing as he ran the show against his old club. The former Dons player almost put the visitors ahead as early as the fourth minute after James Forrest had been upended by Rory McArdle out on the right, with Mulgrew’s free-kick from just outside of the box beating keeper Jason Brown and smacking off the far upright. Mulgrew was nearly the agent of Aberdeen’s demise four minutes later when his cute ball into the Aberdeen box almost allowed debutant Thomas Lustig to get his side off the mark, the home defence flapping madly before finally clearing. When the breakthrough finally came it was almost inevitable that Mulgrew would play a part, although he was, in truth a bit player. It was his pass, however, which put Kris Commons into space, the chunky little midfielder threading a beautiful defence-splitting ball in for Anthony Stokes, who worked his way in between Andrew Considine and Brown, and rounded the keeper before firing in from an acute angle with less than half an hour on the clock.

Perhaps it’s because it had been so long since they’ve conceded a goal on the road, but when the next breach came it wasn’t thanks to a moment of virtuosity on the part of the league leaders but thanks to a lapse of concentration at the back when Aberdeen launched their first meaningful attack of the game moments before the whistle for the interval. There looked to be little danger when Rory Fallon won a header just inside the Celtic half and flicked it on, but Scott Vernon beat Thomas Rogne to the ball and, after holding it expertly, delivered the ball perfectly into the path of Gavin Rae on the edge of the box, the former Rangers player unleashing a shot which looked to be going well wide until it struck the leg of the onrushing Blackman and wrongfooted Fraser Forster.

From a side which had struggled to retain the ball, Aberdeen suddenly looked completely in control.

This wasn’t lost on Celtic, and as the home side visibly blossomed, the visitors did everything they could to wrest back the initiative, with Stokes putting in a wonderful weaving run into the box down the left one moment, and the next minute scything down Jack in a horribly late challenge that inexplicably went unpunished when on another day it could have earned him a red card. Lennon reshuffled his side, bringing on Victor Wanyama, who Lennon said “only arrived back from Togo at seven o’clock last night”, in a successful bid to bolster his side’s defensive resolve.

Even after the midfielder’s return, Aberdeen remained in the ascendant and in the second half there was only going to be one winner, with Brown not having to make one serious save after the interval. But it was a gilt-edged chance for young Mitchel Megginson midway through the second half which should have been the tipping point, Rae putting him one-on-one with Brown only for the youngster to display a horrible lack of composure and shoot lamely wide.

Craig Brown said afterwards: “We only got one point so I’m only moderately pleased,” he said with a smile. “The best team drew.”