Stephen Pearson opened his goalscoring account for Celtic as the Hoops
recorded their 20th consecutive league victory with a win over Aberdeen.
Stilian Petrov and Henrik Larsson found the back of the net before Pearson
grabbed his first Celtic goal to ensure all three points despite a Steve Tosh
strike for the Dons.
Aberdeen may have suffered just one defeat in their last eight games but they
had still slumped back to second bottom of the Bank of Scotland Premier League -
albeit 10 points ahead of Partick.
In contrast, Celtic were on top form and looking to open up a 14-point lead
over Rangers for at least a few hours.
Aberdeen started well enough and a Scott Morrison cross-come-shot smacked off
the post early in the game.
But Celtic were predictably looking the more dangerous in front of goal and
the Dons were fortunate not to fall behind after 16 minutes when Jackie
McNamara's cross was met by John Hartson and his header looked netbound.
Alexander Diamond made a goal-line clearance and goalkeeper David Preece
blocked John Kennedy's rebound.
Larsson looked out of sorts in the first half but he played his part in the
opener when he met Hartson's flick before cutting the ball back to Petrov who
replied with a superb left-footed volley into the back of the net after half an
hour.
To their credit, Aberdeen were not too disheartened and they tried to draw
level again almost immediately when Chris Clark's powerful drive forced
goalkeeper Rob Douglas into a decent save just seconds later.
But Celtic who found the back of the net again when the impressive McNamara
flighted a cross into the path of Larsson and all that was required from the
striker was to fire low into the back of the net two minutes before the
interval.
Hoops new boy Pearson tried to set up Larsson for his second goal but the
former Motherwell player played the ball too hard and the danger was easily
cleared by Preece.
Soon after though Pearson grabbed his first goal for Celtic after 55 minutes.
Sutton's header found Larsson but his shot deflected off Phil McGuire and the
ball fell to Pearson to slot home into an open goal.
Aberdeen hit back with a goal of their own after 63 minutes when Clark's shot
was blocked by Kennedy and the ball broke to Tosh to fire home from just outside
the six-yard box.
Celtic had the ball in the back of the net again with five minutes to go when
Larsson nodded home Petrov's free-kick but the Bulgarian had taken it too
quickly and the goal was disallowed.
Aberdeen tried to push forward in a last-ditch attempt to salvage something
from the game but they could not break down the Celtic defence.
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