Celtic earned their first Scottish Premier League win in three games as Charlie Mulgrew struck the winner to sink his former club Aberdeen 2-1.
Ki Sung-Yueng had given Neil Lenoon’s men a half-time lead at Celtic Park, only for Ryan Jack – who was later sent off – to equalise for Craig Brown’s mid-table men.
The Bhoys began the game desperate for a result after seeing Rangers move 13 points ahead of them when they defeated Hearts 2-0 earlier in the afternoon. With that in mind there was little margin for error for the men in green and white, but Beram Kayal’s well-struck early effort failed to trouble Dons goalkeeper David Gonzalez.
It took only four more minutes for the hosts to forge their next chance. When it was forged, however, it brought a goal. Anthony Stokes, Kayal and Gary Hooper were all involved, with Hooper collecting possession after set-up play from the other two and then slipping in Ki to steer the ball beyond the beaten Gonzalez.
There was an immediate setback for Celtic after they took the lead as defender Glenn Loovens had to hobble off with a knock. Daniel Majstorovic took his place, but his defence was not overly-troubled as Ki’s goal proved to be the only one before half-time.
Adam Matthews’ cross for Ki early in the second half was belted wide by the Korean, before Hooper saw a deflected effort turned behind by Gonzalez - that after Joe Ledley had bombed forward from left back.
Those misses were punished by Aberdeen just prior to the hour mark. The Bhoys’ defence were marked as good as absent to a man as Scottish U21 international Jack danced his way through a glut of blundering bodies, before driving the ball to the back of Fraser Forster’s net from inside the area.
Sadly for Jack his celebration would come back to haunt him as referee Stevie O'Reilly saw fit to book him. Of more immediate concern for Aberdeen though was trying to hold onto parity. Stokes sent a free over the bar, Gonzalez needed all his strength to get behind a fierce shot from Matthews, and Victor Wanyama squandered a close-range effort.
The Bhoys’ cause was, however, rescued by the ex-Don in their number. Majstorovic got his head to a free-kick into the area with the ball deflecting into the path of Mulgrew, who fired beyond Gonzalez to restore the home side’s advantage.
Aberdeen’s hopes then went down the pan as a poor challenge by Jack on Hooper resulted in the young midfielder being shown his second yellow card.
Sub Patrick McCourt went close to making it 3-1, but his effort from a tight angle just missed the target. 2-1 proved to be enough though as the Bhoys stopped the rot. They still have a huge mountain to climb though to try and get back close to their city foes.