Celtic have crashed to their first Premier League defeat of the season, going down 2-0 at Aberdeen. Robbie Winters gave the lead to the Dons with a second-half penalty, controversially awarded for a John Hartson handball. Aberdeen had to withstand relentless Celtic pressure towards the end as the champions pushed for an equaliser. They even had former Bhoy Derek Whyte sent off four minutes from time, but clinched the victory thanks to a Rab Douglas howler. The Celtic keeper miscontrolled Joos Valgaeren's harmless back-pass and Darren Mackie snatched the ball away to shoot into an empty net.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill said Hartson had admitted the penalty was legitimate. "I asked John Hartson in the dressing room and he suggested that it could have been a penalty. I'm not disagreeing with that. Some of the boys thought we could have had a penalty at the other end but we didn't. That is immaterial. We got beaten in the game and we have accepted that.
"What it does illustrate is that the league is far from over. We have only just reached the halfway stage. We have been beaten and that can happen to any team. Eventually, it was inevitable because you cannot just keep winning. We will go home and think about it and try to come back for Boxing Day. We had a number of chances to equalise in the game but we didn't take them and, overall, Aberdeen played very strongly," said O'Neill.
Earlier today, Alex McLeish enjoyed his first win in charge of Rangers in their 3-2 victory over Dundee United at Ibrox. This result means that they are now ten points adrift of their Old Firm rivals. Livingston slipped off the pace with Rangers, only managing a 0-0 draw at home to struggling Dunfermline.
Rock bottom St Johnstone earned a point at home to Hibernian in another goalless draw, while Hearts moved into sixth with a 3-1 win over Motherwell. Kilmarnock continued their good form with an impressive 2-1 win at Dundee.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
