Aberdeen fight back for dramatic draw at Celtic

Aberdeen proved they’re ready for a title fight as they came from two goals down to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Celtic.

With both teams yet to drop a point this season there was great anticipation at Parkhead as Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin looked to show they can compete with the best in the league.

But some poor Dons defending handed Celtic a two-goal lead through Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi as the champions showed their intent.

Ester Solker came off the bench to pull the visitors back into it after the break with Graeme Shinnie levelling the enthralling encounter.

It was then the visitors who thought they had taken the lead but VAR confirmed Duk had handballed Slobodan Rubezic’s header into the net.

Celtic had late chances with Adam Idah’s stoppage-time header ruled out for a foul as Aberdeen held on to remain unbeaten and only trailing Brendan Rodgers’ side at the top on goal difference.

Determined Dons maintain pressure on Hoops

There was a fear this encounter would not live up to the pre-match hype with Aberdeen facing their biggest test so far under the new manager.

Celtic dominated the early stages and Arne Engles almost capitalised on Dimitar Mitov’s mistake early on when he beat the goalkeeper to his own clearance only to smash his shot off the bar.

After Callum McGregor sent a long-range strike over, the Belgian sent Kyogo on his way and he sent a low ball to Hatate to fire into the corner from 12 yards.

With Parkhead rocking, the Dons were rattled.

Gavin Molloy attempted to intercept Daizen Maeda’s low cross but sent it straight into the path of Hatate.

The Dons defender did manage to block the midfielder’s shot, but Kyogo pounced for Celtic’s second.

Leighton Clarkson should have pulled one back for the visitors when he found himself one-on-one with Kasper Schmeichel, but he sent his shot off the Celtic keeper and Alex Valle was there to clear.

Minutes later he sent a 25-yard free-kick into the goalkeeper’s arms.

Aberdeen survived some more poor defending and a VAR check for a possible penalty before the break.

Slobodan Rubezic’s back pass put Mitov in danger. Hatate then pounced on his attempted clearance and found Nicolas Kuhn.

His shot was eventually cleared with the keeper then managing to deny Alistair Johnston at the near post.

Thelin replaced Clarkson and Kevin Nisbet with Ester Sokler and Duk at half-time and the change made an almost instant impact.

Sokler got on the end of a brilliant through ball from Jamie McGrath and slotted home with a VAR check confirming the Dons man was onside.

The goal energised Aberdeen as they dealt with any danger from Celtic while Liam Scales managed to clear the ball as Sokler looked for a second.

Minutes later, the Dons were level.

After a sweeping counter-attack, McGrath laid the ball back into the path of Shinnie and the captain’s shot from 18 yards was deflected past Schmeichel.

It was then Rodgers’ turn to look to his bench as he brought on James Forrest and Paulo Bernardo for Maeda and Hatate.

But there was more drama as Duk thought he had put the Dons ahead only for his goal to be disallowed for handball following a VAR check.

It was a wake-up call for Celtic and with 10 minutes of stoppage time left, they pushed for a third.

Mitov denied Forrest, who also dragged a shot wide, and Auston Trusty headed home from close
range during more than 10 minutes of stoppage time but Johnston was penalised for pushing Mitov.

There was further drama right at the death when Mitov made a brilliant save from Idah’s header before Duk cleared off the line from Johnston, with Nick Walsh’s full-time whistle spelling the end of a resulting VAR check for
handball.

Rodgers: Celtic were careless

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers to Sky Sports News:

“I’m obviously frustrated with a point. When you play at Celtic Park and when you draw it always feels like a defeat.

“We were just careless in the game. We were in a really good position in the first half. We were 2-0 up and could have had more goals, didn’t quite take the opportunities and then there was a 10-minute period in the second half between the 50th and 60th minute where we were just a bit passive and not aggressive enough, with the ball and without the ball in particular.

“If you do that against good teams they can can punish you. They score the first goal then we were careless with the second one, we gave the ball away in a really bad area and then they had their tails up at 2-2.

“That ignited us again and then in the last 25 minutes we were doing everything to score – the speed of the game was good and we ended up wth 32 attempts at goal but we couldn’t get the winner. We should have controlled it better.”

Thelin: An emotional game

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin speaking to Sky Sports News:

“It was a really emotional game. We said at half-time, we have to calm down a little and come back to our strategy. We needed to find a way and to do that was to be a little more true to ourselves.

“I think we have an amazing squad and team spirit. We have had some late winners this season, showing our never-give-in mentality.

“These games are important and difficult. They are going to test us in every area of our game. The most important thing is that we stick together inside games and find ways to perform well. I’m happy with that.

“We only focus on the next game. We don’t focus on what happened already or the future. We now refocus our energy for the game against Dundee United at Pittodrie.

“This support, we need it every game. We may have hard times and also good times. Togetherness is the most important thing.”

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