CELTIC have been presented with the oppportunity to go FIVE points ahead of Aberdeen at the Premiership pinnacle when they face Ross County at Parkhead on Saturday.
The Dons were held to a 3-3 draw by Hibs at Easter Road after a sensational stoppage-time finale when both sides claimed three goals in the space of six bewildering minutes.
The champions and the Pittodrie side, who drew 2-2 in Glasgow last month, were neck and neck on points last weekend before Jimmy Thelin’s men sampled their first league defeat of the season when they crashed 2-1 to St Mirren in Paisley.
THE BEGINNING…Celtic and Aberdeen players line up before the Premier Sports League Cup semi-final.
A couple of hours later, Brendan Rodgers’ men overcame a determined Hearts challenge when they triumphed 4-1 at Tynecastle following a rousing second-half with goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah (2).
The Dons had the opportunity to go level on points again with the Hoops when they travelled to Edinburgh and it looked as though they had done enough when Ester Skolar rifled in a thunderous overhead-kick to give them a 3-2 advantage in added-on time.
Nicky Cadden had hauled the David Gray’s strugglers back into the game with an unstoppable free-kick just momentes earlier before the Slovenian fired the visitors back into the lead.
With virtually the last kick of the ball, Rocky Bushiri touched home from close range to give the hosts, who had struck the woodwork three times in a rousing contest, a well-earned point.
Earlier in a dramatic tussle that was an excellent advert for Scottish football, Joe Newell had give the Leith side a first-half lead with a deflected drive before Jamie McGrath slotted in a close-range leveller shortly after the turnaround.
THE END…Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah celebrate after the Japanese ace had completed his hat-trick in the 6-0 rout. Dons keeper Dimitar Mitov can only look on in dismay.
A howler from comeback keeper Jordan Smith presented Nicky Devlin with a second goal for the north-east outfit before the crazy three-goals-in-six-minutes spurt in stoppage-time.
The Dons return to the capital on Sunday for a meeting with Hearts at Tynecastle and then the champions and their nearest challengers go head to head at Pittodrie a week tonight.
It was a painful experience for Thelin and his players when they faced Celtic in the Premier Sports League Cup semi-final at Hampden earlier this month as the Hoops ran amok in a runaway 6-0 success with Daizen Maeda thumping in a hat-trick with Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kyogo and Kuhn adding to the total.
