Aberdeen 0 - 1 Celtic

For Derek McInnes' fourth final as Aberdeen manager, Sam Cosgrove and Dom Ball came into the starting XI in place of James Wilson and Stevie May.

In the second minute Aberdeen had a shooting opportunity when Max Lowe picked out Shinnie inside the area but his first touch let him down slightly and the chance was lost. Two minutes later Lowe then forced the first corner of the afternoon. Ferguson got up well at the back-post area but his knockdown was easily cleared. A decent start from the reds.

On seven minutes Rogic had Celtic's first chance, from about 20 yards out his low shot clipped the outside of the post. A few minutes later a loose kick out from Lewis gave Celtic another chance but thankfully the defence were able to scramble the ball out for a corner which was cleared. !0 minutes in, the game was quite open.

Forrest found space in the 11th minute but his weak shot went past the post. A Lowe tackle on the winger then gave Celtic a second corner but again the set-piece did not pose any problems.

Quarter of an hour in Lowe forced a second Aberdeen corner. A short corner was well worked this week, unlike at the Motherwell game, and Cosgrove's flick on found Considine who had a close range shot brilliantly saved by Bain. The offside flag went up but Andy looked on.
A few minutes later Tierney was fortunate to escape a yellow card for a professional foul on McGinn who was breaking.

In the 22nd minute Forrest was yellow carded for an off the ball incident with Lowe, after the left back made a great tackle. TV replays showed it was a stamp and he was perhaps fortunate not to see red as the assistant referee witnessed the incident.

In the 26th minute, after some Celtic pressure Forrest found some space over on the right but dragged his shot wide. A minute later the first glimpse of Gary Mackay-Steven. He ran at the Celtic defence before creating a shooting chance but passed to Cosgrove. He then played a square pass to McGinn and although the winger did well to get over a cross the Celtic defence, who were stretched for the first time, managed to clear their lines.

Half an hour in, Celtic worked a short corner which caught Aberdeen sleeping but GMS did very well to recover the situation.
On 34 minutes a well worked move on the right set McGinn free. His cut-back found Ball but his first time shot from the edge of the area was always going over. On 35 minutes GMS, coming more into the game, won Aberdeen a corner. McGinn floated over a good ball which Ferguson met but this time he could not get a clean contact and the ball went over.Aberdeen were doing well.

On 39 minutes Aberdeen broke again. Logan on his left put over a great ball which was flicked on by Mackay-Steven but his header was straight at Bain. That mattered little though as he was caught by Boyata. Instantly you could tell it was a very serious incident. We all wish Gary a very speedy recovery.

Six minutes of time were added on. There was certainly a subdued atmosphere. Celtic then took the lead in the last of those six minutes. Boyata, who had recovered was able to play a ball through for Christie. He managed to lose Shinnie and although Lewis made a great save Christie reacted quickest and stabbed the rebound into the net.

It had been a very cruel couple of minutes for the Dons.

Half-time: Celtic 1 Aberdeen 0

McKenna in the first minute of the second half was forced to make a good last ditch on Forrest. Aberdeen then had three decent chances down the left involving McLennan, before Lowe put over a lovely low cross into the six-yard box, Bain could not come for it but no one made a run. Celtic then wasted a good chance on the break.

Christie was booked for a foul on Shinnie after lovely skill from the captain. The Dons though slightly telegraphed the free kick and Celtic had another break - Lowe doing brilliantly to break it up. But Celtic regained possession and a cross into the box hit Dom Ball on the arm. The contact was clearly outside the area but referee Andrew Dallas pointed to the spot. Thankfully Joe Lewis saved the situation with a brilliant stop to keep out Sinclair's spot kick.

Aberdeen enjoyed a decent little spell before Lewis made another good save, this time from Lustig who was allowed to shoot from 25 yards out.

Rogic and Ball were booked on the hour mark, then Simunovic replaced Boyata. With his first touch he almost handed Aberdeen an equaliser as the ball bounced off him, over Bain but the ball crashed off the cross bar. McLennan then produced great feet to leave his two markers standing still but his run into the area came to nothing.

Scott Brown replaced Rogic. Straight away the Celtic skipper was in the thick of the action. Despite the bad luck Aberdeen were still in the game.

On 67 minutes another Celtic break and Sinclair should have done better, pushing his shot wide. Two minutes later James Wilson replaced Niall McGinn. On 70 minutes Ferguson won a free kick out on the right. McLennan's ball in was flicked on by McKenna but his header was off target.

Lewis then made a couple of good low saves from Edouard within quick succession, although somehow the referee waved play on when Ball was taken down by two Celtic players.

With 15 minutes to go another set-piece for Aberdeen after Shinnie won a foul on the left. McLennan's ball in was half cleared and Cosgrove produced a good acrobatic effort but he could not get enough power into his shot and Bain was able to shuffle across and make a save.
With 12 minutes to go Ferguson got away with one foul but was then booked for a challenge on Brown. Cosgrove was replaced by Bruce Anderson at this point.

With ten minutes to go, neither team was enjoying much possession. There were a lot of fouls which slowed the game down and suited Celtic.
On 83 minutes a Sinclair free kick was saved by Lewis. Celtic were not doing much with the ball but Aberdeen were struggling to get anything going at the other end. The Aberdeen players looked out on their feet. They had given everything.

There was then three minutes of added time. Could The Dons get back on level terms?

Aberdeen put a free kick into the area, then they had one last chance but Anderson was unable to get the ball under control and it ran through to Bain. The Dons gave it their all but it wasn't to be.