2011-02-01: Aberdeen 0-3 Celtic, SPL

Celtic travelled back from the north east last night with such momentum they must have wished they could have carried on all the way to Ibrox to meet Rangers straight away.
They’ll have to wait until Sunday for the Old Firm Scottish Cup tie, but that is no real hardship for a team thumping in goals at one end and refusing to concede them at the other.
Anthony Stokes’ 17th goal of the season, Gary Hooper’s 13th and the first of his entire Celtic career from Mark Wilson buried an Aberdeen side which played 88 minutes with 10 men after Andrew Considine’s red card. No player has ever been dismissed earlier in a Premier League game. The Aberdeen defender’s foul on Scott Brown resulted in a penalty which Stokes did not convert but Celtic were not to be denied for long. They have scored 17 times in four games against Aberdeen this season but another number feels more significant to them this morning: eight, the number of points they are ahead of Rangers, albeit with three more games played.
What a blitz they subjected the home side to for most of this sound win. Aberdeen’s night disintegrated while referee Alan Muir’s opening whistle was still echoing around the ground. Gary Hooper’s fine pass picked out Brown and Considine pulled him down. Muir felt he had denied the Celtic captain a clear goalscoring opportunity, so the punishment included a straight red card. Jamie Langfield, the Aberdeen goalkeeper threw himself to his left to somehow keep out Stokes’ penalty, and Aberdeen could draw breath for the first time.
Celtic ran them ragged. If it wasn’t Hooper playing with real danger and intelligent movement, it was Kris Commons continuing his excellent start to life in Scottish football with a bright, irrepressible display. He unloaded a number of shots at Langfield and was source of the move for the opening goal. Commons pressurised Ryan Jack into giving the ball away. The Celtic man gathered it and fed Hooper, who exchanged a one-two with Stokes which carved open Aberdeen, Hooper then tucking a delicious low finish into the net.
Aberdeen were on the ropes and the loss of David McNamee and Jack to injuries in the 16th and 18th minutes respectively – both had to be substituted, with Derek Young coming on and Steven Smith making his debut – added to the sense of chaos engulfing Craig Brown’s back four. Through dogged defending and luck they held on. Rob Milsom cleared a Stokes attempt off the line after a goalmouth scramble and a sublime Biram Kayal shot from 30 yards smacked the inside of the far post.
It was an ordeal for Aberdeen but they dug in, tentatively emerging from their bunker to create a busy spell at the end of the first half which had Celtic on the back foot. The league leaders had arrived at Pittodrie anxious about their central defence. Without Daniel Majstorovic, Thomas Rogne and Glenn Loovens they had to hammer a couple of men into the middle from other positions. Brown’s reshuffle after Considine’s dismissal meant the threat to them was quickly reduced. Wilson and Charlie Mulgrew would have been relieved by that, but Nick Blackman and Chris Maguire came into the game and com-bined to work Fraser Forster.
Celtic might well have found a response even if Aberdeen had managed an equaliser, but the visitors’ play lacked its earlier fluency and during middle of the match it did not look as though they had any advantage, let alone a goal and an extra man. There was a spell when their passing deteriorated and their moves lacked conviction, although Commons should still have scored when he powered past Smith and Langfield only to knock his shot on to the outside of the post rather than into the open goal.
Still, that phase passed. By the time Celtic scored twice inside three second-half minutes the energy and menace was back. Commons’ corner was bulleted into the net by Wilson at the near post – another set-piece goal conceded, to Brown’s despair – and Aberdeen had barely regrouped by the time Hooper picked out Stokes for a low shot which exposed Langfield at his post. The game won, Celtic gave 18-year-old defender Lewis Toshney his debut. It’s all about Hooper, Stokes and Commons right now though.