Jimmy Thelin praised Cameron-Carter Vickers’ heroic block in the final moments which prevented his side taking a point at Pittodrie against the Scottish champions…
Reo Hatate’s late strike sealed a crucial three points for the visitors in horrendous conditions in the Granite City. The blusterous 50 mile-an-hour winds in the North East may have taken the quality of game between the Premiership’s top two down a notch but for the most part it was entertaining.
Celtic now go seven points clear of their nearest title challengers with a game to spare. The Hoops also ended Aberdeen’s 100% home record this season. In doing so, they continued their perfect streak on the road domestically and have now won 10 away games in a row in the league for the first time in seven years.
Brendan Rodgers’ men also continued their remarkable record versus the Dons with last night’s hard-fought victory. It is now 28 games unbeaten against Aberdeen in all competitions since a 0-1 defeat in Glasgow’s East End in the final league game of the season back in 2018.
Chances came few and far between for both sides with stand-in Aberdeen goalkeeper and former Celtic academy product Ross Doohan making excellent saves in the second half from first Reo Hatate and then an Adam Idah header.
At the other end, Ester Sokler passed up a massive opportunity in the final minutes following an Auston Trusty error. However, Trusty’s centre-back partner Cameron Carter-Vickers was there on hand with a stunning defensive block to deny Aberdeen stealing a point.
Celtic’s solitary goal was well worthy of winning any game. The pass from Greg Taylor was sublime, and the control and finish from Hatate was exquisite. That piece of quality was enough to clinch a big win for Celtic in a testing environment.
🗣️ “A good discipline in our team today… The fans pushed us to these last opportunities… Sometimes this is football”
Jimmy Thelin on Aberdeen’s 1-0 loss to Celtic ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BFhnkmoMOh
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) December 4, 2024
Post-match, Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin spoke to Sky Sports and gave his viewpoint on the game. He said, “[it was an]Intense game, of course Celtic had the ball more, but I think about the chances and maybe a draw would have been a fair result. Of course, we are disappointed right after the game just now, but we had some good chances in the end, I think it was an amazing block in the last chance for Ester [Sokler].”
“Both teams were fighting so hard, everybody played as good as they could, especially I have to focus on my players, and I am so proud of their act and how they took on the fight today.”
Thelin added, “we know against these tight games opportunities will come, so if you stay disciplined and focused, and sometimes the ball goes in, and sometimes not. It is an amazing block the last chance when Ester hits the shot. I don’t remember who was blocking it, but it was a really good block.”
Conor Spence
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