Celtic come into their game against Dundee on the back of 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw in their last 5 games across all competitions with their last game a 2-0 away win over Derek McInnes’ Aberdeen at Pittodrie Stadium last Sunday.
In a rather combative game where both teams had players sent off and Aberdeen received 3 yellow cards plus a straight red while Celtic were given 3 yellow cards one of which was a second yellow card which meant a red card and a sending off for Lustig with Hendry also seeing yellow for the Hoops.
Brendan Rodgers side recorded their 10th consecutive win as they beat Derek McInnes’ Aberdeen outfit for their 9th win in a row under former Liverpool boss Rodgers and in so doing re-established their Ladbrokes Premier League 9 point lead.
The game had plenty of attacking threats from both sides before the Hoops made one of their’s count on 37 minutes as Moussa Dembele headed in James Forrest’s cross at the back post for the games’ first goal.
The Dons were certainly sent out with a much more aggressive attitude by their boss for the 2nd half and this quickly became apparent as they played with a high-line and contested all tackles with improved vigour.
This aggression however, ending up costing Aberdeen’s new £40,000 striker Sam Cosgrove signed from Carlisle dearly as he was dismissed on 84 minutes.
Celtic’s Mikael Lustig received his 2nd yellow card on 76 minutes but Aberdeen hardly had time to take advantage of their numerical advantage before Kieran Tierney rifled home the Hoops’ second goal on 83 minutes. This was followed by Dons debutant, Sam Cosgrove receiving his marching orders for a reckless lunge on Hoops’ captain Scott Brown only 8 minutes into his club debut as McInnes’ team began to lose their discipline as they became more and more frustrated with proceedings
The 2-0 defeat for Aberdeen left them 12 points behind Celtic and put their hopes of finishing in 2nd for the 4th successive season in serious doubt given that Rangers are only 6 points behind the Hoops and play Brendan Rodgers’ side in 2 weeks time at Ibrox. Graeme Murty will be looking for a big performance to a man from his team if he is to put the cat among the pigeons when it comes to Celtic’s Ladrokes’ Scottish Premier League defence even if the Hoops have a game in hand on Murty’s Rangers.