Celtic 1 - 0 Aberdeen

Aberdeen narrowly lost out to Celtic when a Zurawski goal was enough to take all three points. Aberdeen put up a good performance and lost the goal at a stage of the game that saw them putting the home side under pressure. The Dons attack was broken up when Balde pulled Lee Miller to the ground. The incident went unpunished and Celtic raced up the field and Zurawski controlled a Naylor cross and drilled the ball past Jamie Langfield. Only a terrific save from Boruc in injury time denied the Dons an equaliser.

Aberdeen started positively as Clark and Foster moved forward and forced a throw in deep in the Celtic half. Aberdeen continued to play positively and were not troubled by the home side until the 5th minute when Kenny Miller broke, but the move was well defended by Considine. The distribution by Jamie Langfield in the early stages was poor and the Dons could ill afford to surrender possession so cheaply. Michael Hart was the hero in the 8th minute when he made a last gasp challenge to concede the first corner of the match. The subsequent set play almost produced the opener as McManus rose unchallenged and headed inches wide of the target.

Two minutes later Anderson was forced to concede a second corner and once again Celtic had a header at goal through Jarosik. Lee Miller almost released Mackie at the other end as he got a flick ahead of Balde. Celtic went close again in the 15th minute but Langfield did well to block a Gravesen effort. Aberdeen were struggling to cope with Celtic's set play and another corner in the 20th minute found Gravesen, but fortunately he was unable to steer his header on target and Langfield gathered easily.

Aberdeen were on the back foot at this stage but Mackie had a glimpse of goal in the 25th minute when he robbed Telfer, but his cut back fell behind Lee Miller and the chance was wasted. Aberdeen threatened again four minutes later but referee MacDonald stopped play for a high boot from Dempsey. With no Celtic players complaining the decision looked harsh. Considine was having a great game and once again saved the day in the 34th minute with a great challenge on Miller after Celtic had broken quickly from a Dons attack. Aberdeen were seeing more of the ball now, but still hadn't managed to create a scoring chance.

This changed in the 40th minute when Boruc was then forced into a save with the Celtic players appealing for offside. Foster had broken forward but the keeper gathered Mackie's shot. A minute later Mackie latched on to another Miller flick but after beating Balde he was forced wide and the chance was gone. Then two minutes before the break Langfield was forced to tip a McGeady effort over his bar and a minute later he made another fine save as Celtic turned up the pressure in the closing minutes of the half.

Aberdeen started positively again with Foster carving out the first chance in the 47th minute when his deep cross found Lee Miller but his weak header was saved by Boruc but he had already been flagged offside. Aberdeen had started well but another soft free kick set up the home side with a scoring chance in the 50th minute. Fortunately Nakamura failed to find the target with his free kick. Miller and Mackie combined well again a minute later but once again the offside flag halted play.

Celtic were starting to control the match again and went close on the hour mark when McGeady fired wide. Two minutes later the Celt was denied again when Langfield palmed an effort away and Foster completed the clearance. Zurawski replaced Gravesen in the 68th minute as Celtic looked to take all three points. Two minutes later McGeady headed wide then Langfield was out quickly to claim a Jarosik cross. Aberdeen then imposed some pressure on the Celtic defence encouraged by Dempsey, but the pressure ended when Lee Miller was dragged to the ground by Balde and referee MacDonald allowed play to continue.

Celtic immediately broke up field and Zurawski controlled a Naylor cross and fired past Langfield. Aberdeen threatened two minutes later with a long throw from Severin but the ball wouldn't fall for an Aberdeen player. Calderwood then introduced Jamie Smith for Dempsey, who had had a fine game. Zurawski went close again in the 78th minute as he fired into the side netting. Calderwood then really went for it as he replaced Considine with a fourth striker as Steve Lovell came into the fray.

Celtic continued to pull the strings however and Aberdeen were finding it difficult to create any chances. In the final minute Aberdeen were denied an equaliser when Boruc made a great finger tip save from Anderson as the skipper steered a Nicholson free kick on target. Celtic cleared the resulting corner and Aberdeen had to scurry back to prevent further damage. In a good-natured match McGeady and Lovell picked up yellow cards in the closing minutes.

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Match Stats:

		Celts	Dons
Goal Attempts		14	3
On Target		7	3
Corners		7	1
Possession		57%	43%

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