Classic Scottish Cup final settled in a flash

Tom Rogic scores Celtic's late winner against Aberdeen. Picture: John Devlin

Seismic though it was, there was no celestial event to greet Hibs skipper David Gray’s winner 12 months ago like there was to accompany Tom Rogic as he slalomed down the right beneath the thundery sky.

A vivid, silent flash of lightning lit the way for someone dubbed “the magic man” by manager Brendan Rodgers.

“If someone has the picture, it would be priceless,” remarked Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon later, rightly identifying this as a moment in time, one perhaps made all the more special by being preserved only in memory.

Zig-zagging across the sky towards the east of their city, the lightning bolt was actually hidden from view for the majority of Celtic fans housed in the east end of the ground.

But they were well placed to see the flicker of genius that won the final-with- everything. Rogic scored what he described as a “five-a-side goal” in front of them.

Normally a match report requires a couple of pages’ worth of notes, tops. By the time the last entry was scribbled down on Saturday – “Taylor nods down, Rooney just can’t reach it” – a fourth page had been required.

Remarkably, though Celtic scored so late, Aberdeen were given the opportunity to cure the neutral’s deflation at being robbed of another 30 minutes of this exhilarating fare when Craig Gordon clutched the ball to deny Adam Rooney’s desperate lunge in the game’s final act of note.

Including friendlies, this was the 67th match – of course it was – of Celtic’s seemingly blessed season.

The only surprise is that their winner didn’t arrive in the 67th minute (Patrick Roberts did hit the post slightly earlier). Nothing was going to get in the way of their bid to mark the 50th anniversary of Lisbon with an unbeaten treble, not even an Aberdeen performance that was everything it had not been when the teams last clashed at Hampden in November.

As Derek McInnes later mentioned, this had the feel of two top teams slugging it out from the very beginning. The atmosphere crackled and when goals were traded within a couple of minutes of each other in the opening spell, it was clear the good feelings about the match were justified.

The best side in the country were playing the second best. But this being a cup final, the status of the teams, and the fact Celtic had won five out of five meetings prior to kick-off, threatened to matter not a jot.

Anyone with no knowledge of how the league finished might well have identified Aberdeen as the runaway champions from the evidence of the first-half.

Celtic could not get into their stride. Aberdeen, meanwhile, immediately got into theirs. They’d already threatened from a couple of corners by the time Jonny Hayes, pictured left, ran off the dawdling Leigh Griffiths to gain powerful left-footed connection to Niall McGinn’s corner kick.

Although Celtic equalised with yet another quality strike from Stuart Armstrong just under two minutes later, Aberdeen quickly trashed any notion they’d surrendered the momentum.

Back they came, perhaps more strongly than before, their bite lent further spike by some recklessness, perhaps even malice, on the part of Jayden Stockley, whose clash with Kieran Tierney as they jostled at a throw-in left the youngster with a broken jaw.

The game was stopped for five minutes. Time enough just about to get everyone’s breath back. Tierney, sadly, departed, replaced by Rogic. No one quite knew the extent of influence he would wield until much, much later. But by early in the second-half, Rogic was offering fleeting hints of his potential danger and his capability to become a match winner.

Hence the substitution some interpreted as being overly negative, as McGinn made way for Anthony O’Connor. The Northern Ireland winger’s delivery was a key weapon for Aberdeen but McInnes clearly felt the tide was turning to the extent that O’Connor was required to bolster the midfield.

His chief duty was clearly to shadow Rogic.

McInnes’ reasoning was understandable and who knows how things might have turned out in extra-time were Aberdeen able to endure the storm, gathering above as well as below, as they almost did.

The manager might have felt Aberdeen’s chance to win the game in 90 minutes had gone and they needed just to ensure extra-time, when they could re-stock.

Few needed help pinpointing the moment when the Pittodrie side’s chance to take a stranglehold on the game came and went. A mistake from the otherwise excellent Callum McGregor, who was shifted back to left-back after Tierney’s exit, allowed Hayes to make progress down the right.

Kenny McLean’s presence in the box meant Aberdeen had  a two-on-one situation but Hayes’ cross was just behind his team-mate, who might have held his run.

Either way, McLean could not adjust his feet and the chance was gone.

But the game raced relentlessly, breathlessly on. Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis emerged as a key figure as he blocked Celtic effort after Celtic effort, most notably when tipping Roberts’ shot on to the post and spreading himself to deny the unusually profligate Scott Sinclair at the far post.

Being beaten at his near post meant it was a cruel way to lose for Lewis, especially given Aberdeen, to their relief and to the delight of captivated neutrals wishing this game would never end, were inching towards extra-time.

But Celtic were determined to bring the curtain down on such a historic season as quickly as they could, Rogic conjuring up the epic climax it deserved.