Celts showed mettle to grind out win in tough conditions, beams Lennon
CELTIC boss Neil Lennon praised the character and resilience of his side as they came out on top against Aberdeen despite being drawn into a battle with both the Dons and the remnants of Storm Dennis.
At a windswept Pittodrie, the visitors took the lead through Callum McGregor after 10 minutes, but were pegged back before half-time thanks to Ash Taylor’s composed finish.
It looked like a share of the spoils was on the cards before Kristoffer Ajer coolly netted an 81st-minute winner for Lennon’s side.
The Lurgan man said: “I’m thrilled. It’s a massive win in treacherously difficult conditions to play football.
“All credit to the players who dug out a marvellous result for us.
“You can’t always play slick, quick football and we had to grind it out today. We didn’t want to drop points obviously, but it was perhaps looking like we would.
“A point a Pittodrie is sometimes a decent result and in these conditions the game could have gone either way.
“We’ve a bit of character and resilience. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves, there’s a lot of football yet to play but in the context of the run that we’re on it’s a big win.”
The home side had forced much of the early pressure, but Celtic, as they are capable of, hit the hosts with a sucker-punch after 10 minutes.
Leigh Griffiths nudged Scott McKenna as the defender looked to clear an aerial ball in the right channel, and the visitors worked the ball across to James Forrest. His shot was well saved by Joe Lewis, but the rebound fell to McGregor, who found the bottom corner.
The Dons levelled on 26 minutes when Connor McLennan delivered from the right and his cross was nudged on by Matty Kennedy for the unlikely figure of Taylor, who took a touch on the chest before firing past Fraser Forster.
With the contest looking destined to finish all-square in the aftermath of former Aberdeen favourite Jonny Hayes being denied by Lewis, it fell to Ajer to net the decider, but it was Odsonne Edouard’s back-heel in the build-up that set everything in motion.
He found McGregor who passed the ball onto a subdued Forrest. The winger suddenly came into life, though, and picked out the unmarked Norwegian at the back post and he stroked high past Lewis from 10 yards.
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes felt his side were the better team on the day, but is focusing on the positives of the performance.
He said: “When you play against a team like Celtic with so many good players, it has to start in the head with the mindset to make the game go our way.
“I thought we were the better team, and we spoke at half-time about the mentality of the Celtic players and how they wouldn’t accept not winning, and we asked our players to go out with the same mindset.
“It was exactly how my team needed to play against a good Celtic team and I felt the performance merited something from the game — but you don’t get points for a performance.”