Aberdeen 1-1 Celtic
It was an unfamiliar Celtic starting line-up at Pittodrie this afternoon which resulted in the visitors dropping league points for the first time in four months. Andre Blackman and Mikael Lustig made their Celtic debuts at left and right back respectively, while Charlie Mulgrew played central midfield alongside Joe Ledley.
Neither full back got forward as often as we are accustomed to see Celtic play, which perhaps contributed to the disjointed performance.
Charlie Mulgrew almost opened the scoring on 5 minutes when his swerving free kick rebounded back off the inside of Jason Brown’s far post in Celtic’s only genuine chance before the 28th minute goal. Mulgrew was key again in the move that counted, controlling a difficult ball before twisting his marker and knocking the ball forward to Kris Commons. Commons spun before playing a perfectly weighted pass into space inside the box for Anthony Stokes to run onto. Stokes first touch took the ball past Brown in the Aberdeen goal before he slotted his shot into the net.
Aberdeen were well out of the contest in the first half and had to wait until near the end of the half before they managed an attempt at goal, a Fyvie shot which was blocked. Then, only seconds from the break, a long ball forward to Fallon brought Aberdeen level. Fallon turned and his forward run drew Blackman, Wilson and Rogne, leaving the right back space unattended. Gavin Rae ran 70 yards to fill that space and fired a shot which was going narrowly wide before Blackman’s block bounced over Forster into the net.
A minute into the second half Ryan Jack almost reached a cross from the right as Aberdeen seemed to take encouragement from their goal.
Anthony Stokes looked Celtic’s best player but whenever he linked with strike partner, Gary Hooper, the ball invariably bounced out of play or to an Aberdeen player, most notably on the 55th minute when Hooper failed to control on the edge of the six yard box.
Aberdeen’s best chance to win the game arrived on 63 minutes when Meganson evaded Lustig but shot wide when clean through inside the box.