SPL Saturday January 24th 2004

Aberdeen 1

Celtic 3

0:1 Petrov 30
0:2 Larsson 43
0:3 Pearson 58
1:3 Tosh 62

Att:16,452

MIB: John Rowbotham

Celtic: Douglas McNamara Kennedy Varga Agathe Sutton Lennon Petrov Thompson Larsson Hartson

The Hoops scarcely got out of second gear as they comfortably trounced a lacklustre Dons side, so apathetic that they could easily be mistaken for the Orcs.

Despite a placid 90 minutes on the park that didn't even see one yellow card, the home terracing proved a more torrid arena. Burberry seems to be the order of the day for the fashion afflicted Great Northern Flock, who with their flags proclaiming themselves as Aberdeen Ultras and Abu Dabi reds, might have spent a more profitable afternoon being paint ball soldiers.

Celtic, bereft of Bobo who was in Tunisia playing in the African Cup of Nations, drafted in young John Kennedy to play alongside Stan Varga in a scarcely troubled Sieve. All the early signs were that this was going to be a turkey shoot as Celtic almost literally passed the Dons off the park. Despite Henke still looking below par, he rattled the bar , scored a goal and set up two others. Hartson also managed to bring an excellent early save off Preece before the hammer fell. It was keep ball as the Dons, penned in their own half, chased their tails.

The rout started in earnest when Larsson delivered to Petrov to drive the ball home from the edge of the box. Fifteen minutes later and the Dons were looking sheepish again, as Henke once again evaded his marker and put the ball beyond Preece. It was easy street from then on and Celtic were putting on a masterclass in possession football.

The second 45 did little to change the script. The Dons rearguard was proving as effective as a Frank de Boer penalty, when Larsson created the third. His cross-cum-shot was deflected to Pearson who opened his Celtic account with aplomb.

The consolation goal for the Dons was down to some Sieve slapstick from Agathe, but it didn't affect the result. It could have been 7 or 8. We didn't even get a stone wall penalty when a red arm struck a cross from a corner. It was all grist for the mill. Celtic are too good just now to be affected by the petty myopia of the MIB.

Eleven points clear and cruising to the title.