Hammell made the starting line up despite the damage he received in Inverness and reached his landmark 400th appearance. Jennings returned and Hutchison was benched.
Celtic switched to attack mode from the kick off and it took a few minutes before we played ourselves into the contest but we managed to win four corners as the stadium clock displayed ten minutes. The last of that series produced the first goal.
Hateley’s short corner exchange with Law ended with a delivery well met by Higdon and his header in front of the South Stand goal silenced the travelling support. Our celebrations took place in front of the jubilant ‘Well fans in the East Stand and we had the perfect start.
Unfortunately a casual loss of possession from Clancy only two minutes later forced the concession of a corner. Samaras got to it first and the ball fell to Stokes at the far post. He made no mistake with his volley from close range.
The game moved on as a high paced affair with neat spells of close passing broken up by long balls seeking to pick out Higdon. Humphrey found space on the right wing and several cross field passes set him off up the line. Law and Murphy combined well and we probably had the balance of play at the break, although neither ‘keeper was put under pressure.
We had a scare a minute into the second period when Craigan let Stokes away. Randolph did well to block his attempt. At the other end Lasley played a deft lob to release Law. Our man was fifteen yards out but by the time the ball dropped Forster was on his toes and the chance was snuffed out.
Lasley had collected a harsh booking in the first half and Jennings joined him in the second. We’ll soon be paying a price for those yellows. Worse was to come as Clancy received a straight red for an unnecessary foot thrown in the direction of Hooper. By that time we were chasing the game.
Carswell had replaced Jennings and Celtic has brought on Hooper and McCourt. As the final ten minutes approached a draw looked likely but we were undone when we failed to stop a McCourt run from midfield. He passed tp stokes on the left side of the box and his low ball across the face of goal was tapped into the net by Hooper.
We lost the game but can take some comfort from knowing that we matched them all over the park and at times were the better footballing side. Still, we get no points from the game.
The international weekend ahead will allow some bumps and bruises to recover before we resume duties at Pittodrie in a fortnight.