Virgil van Dijk’s cheeky injury time goal at Aberdeen sent Celtic to the top of the table sparking wild scenes of celebration.
It was a sweet moment for the defender who was sent off at Pittodrie in March as Celtic slumped to their only defeat of the season.
After the exertions of a midweek trip to Romania and the loss of a late goal to Astra a visit to Aberdeen was about as demanding a fixture as the hoops could have faced.
The return of James Forrest and Adam Matthews on the right raised a few concerns among the travelling support with Lucasz Zaluska looking less than impressive as Adam Rooney opened the scoring in the 27th minute.
Eleven minutes later Celtic were back on level terms when Stefan Johansen made a perfectly timed run onto a pass from Anthony Stokes, held off the attention of Mark Reynolds then squeezed his shot beyond Scott Brown into the net.
The second half was a tight affair with neither side really impressing although Aberdeen had an edge in terms of possession.
When Scott Brown was given his second yellow card for a questionable trip on Niall McGinn it looked as if the match was heading Aberdeen’s way.
Summoning up the spirit of past Celtic teams the hoops weren’t content with settling for a point and forced two corners in stoppage time.
From Johansen’s second delivery Leigh Griffiths managed to distract home keeper Scott Brown with van Dijk nudging the ball home from three yards out.
Going into the international break Celtic find themselves in top spot, the manner of the win over Aberdeen suggests that the bhoys will take some shifting as they crank up the pressure going for four-in-a-row.
