Aberdeen managed to preserve their unbeaten run this season by pulling off an exciting draw against Celtic at Celtic Park, despite being two goals behind. Their 2-2 draw allowed the Dons to maintain equal points with the reigning champions at the peak of the Scottish Premiership. The tactic their manager, Jimmy Thelin, employed to engineer a comeback in the latter half of the match, only added more excitement among their dedicated fans.
A duo of goals were scored within three minutes in the first half by Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi, which led the local supporters to declare that the championship was set to stay at Parkhead. However, Aberdeen players Ester Sokler and Graeme Shinnie made a surprising comeback, levelling the game around the 60-minute mark.
Goals that were declared invalid at each end made the showdown at the top of the league even more exciting than anticipated. Aberdeen managed to match Celtic in a riveting league-leading duel in Glasgow.
The perfect local track records of both sides were brought into the match – each team had seven league victories. Interesting developments can be expected in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final taking place in a fortnight.
Nonetheless, the recent outcomes at Celtic Park underscored the enormous challenge Thelin’s squad had to face – Celtic had notched up 15 goals without any retaliation in their last three encounters. Still, Thelin fielded an unchanged team showing offensive potential early on with three forward-playing midfielders backing up Kevin Nisbet.
Celtic’s Arne Engels got the first opportunities, hitting the bar with a shot from a far-off position. The Dons’ goalie, Dimitar Mitov, had mistakenly cleared the ball in his path. The Belgian then squandered a shot soon after Alex Valle set him up with an unguarded position on the edge of the penalty area.
The first goal came in the 24th minute, following an Aberdeen attack that went awry within Celtic’s half. Engels passed the ball to Furuhashi on the right, and with Mitov backtracking after an initial attempt for the ball, the Japanese striker passed the ball to his countryman Hatate, who scored effortlessly on his initial attempt.
In a thrilling encounter between Celtic and Aberdeen, Celtic extended their lead thanks to a collision of errors from former Shelbourne defender Gavin Molloy. He poorly cleared the ball, setting it up for Hatate, and then blocked the midfielder’s strike, only for Furuhashi to knock the loose ball into the net.
Leighton Clarkson squandered a golden opportunity to claw one back when his soft attempt was removed by Valle, after an unintentional assist from Alistair Johnston’s sliding tackle. Aberdeen nearly conceded a third due to more sloppy defending, yet both Nicolas Kuhn and Johnston’s attempts were thwarted.
In the second half, Theelin substituted Duk and Sokler as the team looked to inject fresh energy. They bounced back into contention with relentless pressuring. However, Kuhn blew another golden chance to advance Celtic’s lead to three.
Five minutes into resumption, the game took a twist with a fantastic pass from Ireland’s Jamie McGrath to Sokler who effortlessly breezed past Celtic’s defence, driving the ball into the net’s corner. The Celtic team had a close call when Topi Keskinen chose to take the shot himself despite having Duk open in the middle, but Liam Scales came in to block the attempt.
Aberdeen then drew level after Daizen Maeda’s inaccurate pass handed them control in Celtic’s territory. They finally managed to work the ball towards Shinnie whose deflected shot zoomed into the top of the net. The visiting fans had a premature celebration on the 70th minute when a goal was disallowed due to Duk’s use of his hand, as determined by the VAR overseen by Greg Aitken.
Celtic then pounced in the final minutes with substitute James Forrest bringing the heat, but Mitov thwarted his attempts. Aberdeen continued to prove a dangerous adversary during counterattacks. Forrest again misfired and Auston Trusty scored a header from a close range amid over 10 minutes of extra time. This was however nullified as Johnston was penalised for pushing Mitov.
The game culminated in a final dramatic moment as Mitov made a stunning save from Adam Idah’s header with Duk making a save off the line, leading to Nick Walsh’s final whistle which conclusively ended any subsequent VAR reviews for a handball offence.