DONS LOST IN A RED-HOT HAYES
Aberdeen flop again as Celts winger turns screw on old pals
ABERDEEN have now lost nine successive matches to Celtic. They have not won a league game in the east end of Glasgow for 13 years.
But if anything from this match summed up the gulf that exists between the clubs, then it was the sight of Jonny Hayes knocking in his first Celtic goal.
By common consensus Aberdeen’s most consistent and dangerous player over the past few seasons, Hayes was picked up by Brendan Rodgers for just over £1million last summer.
By Celtic’s standards, it was a relatively modest outlay but the Dons simply could not turn the money down.
While the transfer most definitely weakened Derek McInnes’s squad, there has been little evidence of it strengthening Celtic’s. Until now.
When the Aberdeen manager saw Hayes’ name on the team-sheet it is likely he would have let out a sigh — especially as his own attacking options were so restricted.
McInnes has earned a reputation for overthinking his selections for the bigger games but if there was a game of ‘guess the formation’ to be played when the team lines landed here, it was down to necessity.
He was always going to have to find a way to set up his side minus Ryan Christie, the club’s main creative influence this term but ineligible to face his parent club. Throw in the injury that kept out striker Stevie May and the bug that robbed him of right-back Shay Logan and he was down to bare bones.
With young centre-back Scott McKenna moving to the bench to accommodate the experience of Mark Reynolds, that meant four changes to the side that demolished Hibs last weekend, with Dom Ball starting for the first time in two months in place of Logan.
In such straitened circumstances, how McInnes would have loved to have Hayes at his disposal.
Aberdeen started physically and made a proper, meaty contest of the first half.
Graeme Shinnie set the tone with a crunching tackle that cleared the ball and felled Scott Sinclair, while Hayes was taken out by Greg Stewart. Most cynical of all was Kari Arnason’s lunge on Moussa Dembele as the Frenchman burst clear in only the eighth minute.
Referee Craig Thomson produced the yellow card and even this early Celtic knew they were in a serious contest. When the teams met at Pittodrie in October, Aberdeen were bullied by Celtic.
This time, Shinnie and Kenny McLean were giving as good as they got against Scott Brown and Co in the middle of the park.
It would have been plain silly to expect Gary Mackay-Steven to join in on the war of attrition but, on the back of his sublime three-goal performance against Hibs last weekend, Aberdeen were looking for some of his twinkle-toed magic to try to break the deadlock.
The former Celtic player nearly succeeded, pouncing on some slack work from Dedryck Boyata to work the angle for a shot he dragged just wide. That was the spark for Aberdeen’s best spell in the game as Shinnie’s low cross sought out Adam Rooney, requiring the intervention of the promising Kristoffer Ajer.
Logic might state that the arrival of Marvin Compper would limit the Norwegian’s prospects but he was dominant enough here to suggest he might have a chance to partner the German.
Stewart then had a shot beaten away by Craig Gordon and a Kieran Tierney deflection denied McLean. Amidst all of that, Celtic had displayed their menace on the counter. Some quick thinking from Dembele and Stuart Armstrong shuffled the ball through for Sinclair, but he squandered a gift of a chance by shooting straight at Joe Lewis. Shinnie and Ball both picked up bookings before Celtic caught the break that nudged them in front. Given how poor Mikael Lustig’s distribution had been to this point, little was expected when the Swede strode on to a loose ball 25 yards out. But he went for goal, his shot deflecting heavily off Ball to leave Lewis stranded.
The interval took the sting out of the game. Aberdeen showed little of the same zest or aggression after the break and Celtic gradually increased the pressure.
Armstrong has seemed to be playing within himself this season but there was much more of last term’s drive yesterday.
One driving run took out several Aberdeen players and led to an opportunity for Dembele to try an audacious volley and then the midfielder was one of several players to miss by margins.
Before the second goal, there was a warning for Celtic, a McLean shot deflected just wide. From the corner, Stewart found Arnason and his header grazed the crossbar.
It looked like Rodgers was preparing to withdraw Hayes in
favour of James Forrest until the Irish winger latched onto some comical Aberdeen defending to knock the ball home.
Sinclair’s cross was headed by Reynolds off Arnason and Hayes stole in front of Lewis to tap in.
Hayes was also to claim an assist of sorts for the clincher. His long pass forward may have been speculative but Olivier Ntcham sensed opportunity as McLean pulled the ball down and undercooked his back-pass.
The French Under-21 star showed an impressive burst of pace and sure touch to dance round Lewis and clip the ball into the net.