Aberdeen v Celtic

Aberdeen achieved their ninth successive home victory on a day when Celtic were very unimpressive. Aberdeen had the best chances in the game and deserved their victory. Celtic seemed to have no appetitite for the game; only getting fired up when they went one behind. A bad day for Rab Douglas; the last time he faced the bitter temperatures of the frozen North, he had a nightmare against Rosenborg.

Lennon, Lambert, Thompson and Larsson returned to the team, so Sutton was again playing behind the front two. Celtic were content to play the long ball from the start and were pretty ineffective. A great bit of skill by Dadi on 11 mins beat Balde and when the cross came in Winters miskicked when he should have done much better. The ball broke to Young and his shot from a narrow angle was saved by Douglas at the expense of a corner.

Petrov was booked for diving as he went down just inside the box. Derek Whyte followed him into the book for a tackle from behind on Sutton. In between times a long ball was flicked on by Hartson to Larsson who shot wide. Good work by Stan down the right led to dangerous cross which Sutton just failed to reach.

On 30 minutes Robbie Winters hit a trundler which Douglas seemed to have covered, but he let it slip under his body and just by the post. 4 minutes later Alan Thompson saved Celtic. Young had turned well to beat Valgaeren and as he lined up to shoot inside the box Thommo got a great tackle in with the Dons fans claiming for a penalty. Up the other end Hartson fed Thompson on the left. His dangerous cross had too much pace for a bitterly disappointed Sutton.

In injury time Sutton was breaking forward with Bisconte pulling his shirt. Sutton's arms were flailing to break free and his arm contacted the Belgian's body resulting in him diving to the ground holding his face in an attempt to get Sutton sent off. The ref booked Sutton, but Bisconte went unpunished.

The second half was only 1 minute old when Aberdeen had a gilt edged chance. A low cross from the left was perfect for Dadi but his shot had no power and Douglas flopped down to block it easily. Celtic still hadn't woken up to the fact that they were in a game when a low shot from Derek Young was spilled by Douglas and as Dadi ran in to follow up Rab scrambled along the ground to push it clear as the home support cried in vain for a penalty.

Hartson had a half-chance from an accurate Thompson free kick in 53 minutes, but failed to get enough on the ball, giving the keeper an easy save. Shortly afterwards Russell Anderson was booked for a foul on Thompson.

Celtic were under no threat when Hartson turned in the penalty area and the ball hit his hand. Penalty. Winters stepped up and sent Douglas the wrong way to score.

At last Celtic seemed to awaken from their lethargy and show a bit of commitment. Balde had a header cleared for a corner then there were claims for a penalty as Lambert tumbled in the box. On 73 minutes, Balde had a great chance from a Sutton knock down but blazed over. In 82 mins Larsson had a shot saved from close in and when the ball broke to Thompson his header was cleared off the line.

There was a bit of needle in the game now with Aberdeen players falling down injured to waste time and when their keeper collapsed and Petta played on things got a bit heated, resulting in the booking of Petta. The referee consulted his linesman then booked White. The second yellow meant he went off. To everyone's great surprise the ref only allowed 3 minutes injury time when the disturbance over Petta alone must have lasted 5 minutes.

Celtic were to concede another soft goal in injury time. Douglas tried to control a pass back from Valgaeren but knocked it too far in front of him. X, running in got a foot to it knocked it past Douglas and ran round to push it home. The Aberdeen team and fans were delirious at their win, Ebbe Skovdahl's first victory over Celtic.

There seemed to be a complacency about the team today which up to now, fortunately, has not been in evidence. In the first half particularly they did not seem to want to work for their victory. Maybe the talk this week of improved contracts has distracted the players, and could Martin O'Neill's alleged dispute with the directors have taken the edge off his motivational skills?

On the bright side, we're half way through the season, ten points ahead with a game in hand and 4 points better off than at this stage last year. As the great man says "I'd have taken that in August. I certainly would."

CELTIC (3-4-1-2): Douglas; Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren; Thompson, Lambert (Petta 72), Lennon, Petrov; Sutton; Larsson, Hartson (McNamara 62).
Subs: Gould, Maloney, Crainey.

ABERDEEN (4-5-1): Kjaer; Anderson, Whyte, McGuire, McAllister; Derek Young (Mackie 78), Guntveit, Bisconti, Darren Young, Winters; Dadi.