‘Nobody is catching domestic machine Celtic now’

It’s possible there were more hostile places on earth on Wednesday evening than Pittodrie; windier, rainier, colder, noisier. But frankly, we doubt it.

Aberdeen versus Celtic, the meeting of the top two teams in the Premiership, was, in effect, the Battle in the Blizzard, the Match in the Monsoon, a game played in foul conditions and yet a night that never stopped having a grisly fascination.

Reo Hatate won it with a sumptuous finish that was in stark contrast to the awfulness of the weather, a gorgeous thing on a grind of a night.

Celtic won and deserved to – character as much as class sealed it – but Aberdeen were no pushovers.

They’re on a winless run now but none of their supporters should worry all that much. The heart is beating strongly in these boys. They weren’t good enough on Wednesday but they’ll be plenty good enough on days to come.

From the moment when Cameron Carter-Vickers was ironically cheered by the Red Shed after successfully completing a backpass to his goalkeeper – something he failed to do a week ago against Club Brugge – to the lusty tackle Kevin Nisbet put in when ransacking Alex Valle, this was tumultuous stuff. Only a minute had been played and skin and hair was flying.

Steady rain and regular aggro. On the radio gantry, the great Willie Miller smiled, wistfully. An old school scrap. Toe to toe. Where else would you rather be?

Some might tell you the most beautiful sound in the world is birds chirping, leaves rustling, a fire crackling. On evenings like this, it was a touch more fundamental. An Aberdeen tackle – legal or otherwise – brought a cacophony. Sweet music.

A couple of minutes in, Kyogo Furuhashi went haring away into space deep in the Aberdeen half, the inexperienced goalkeeper Ross Doohan his only obstacle to a possible opener.

Total commitment from both men meant a brutal collision. Kyogo, blameless, clashed with Doohan’s head and it was worrying. The goalkeeper stayed down awhile. Replays showed the extent of the dunt.

Kyogo, touchingly, stayed with him all the time. You thought Doohan’s day was done but he picked himself up and carried on.

In the days of Dimitar Mitov, Doohan’s time on the pitch has been limited, but he was good on Wednesday night. Durable after the Kyogo incident and inspired at times later on when Celtic started to pile on the pressure.

The Dons dug in. They weren’t all that threatening in attack, they didn’t cause Kasper Schmeichel a whole pile of trouble until the closing minutes when they were chasing like madmen, but they were dogged against the champions, they made a fight of it against an attacking force that put six on them the last time they played.

Celtic always suggested that a goal was coming. Towards the end of the first half they had a series of corners, vicious deliveries whipped in from the beach end.

Paulo Bernardo scored directly from one of them, but it was correctly ruled out when Daizen Maeda was seen to have backed into Doohan. Alistair Johnston was a few feet away from connecting with another, a touch probably being enough to break the deadlock.

The jostling amid all this was intense. No quarter asked, no quarter given. It wasn’t pretty, but given the lousy conditions and the bearpit nature of the contest, it was compelling.

Celtic are a domestic machine. It’s easy for them when the sun shines and their game is connected and the stars are all aligned. They nearly always win. Other questions were asked here. A baying home crowd, vile weather, a belligerent opponent. And they won again. Formidable and unstoppable.

The clues were coming. In the 71st minute they pushed Aberdeen back, almost into the front rows of the Red Shed. Johnston had a shot blocked, then another, then Hatate had a shot saved by Doohan, then Doohan saved from Adam Idah, a flying stop away to his right that made you wonder for a second if the deadlock could be broken, if Aberdeen’s resistance could, in fact, hold.

Or better. Leighton Clarkson was in space in front of Celtic’s goal, but pulled his shot and the moment passed. Teams who miss chances tend to regret them when it’s Celtic down the other end. Two minutes after Clarkson missed, Hatate scored.

It was Greg Taylor, the full-back on as a substitute for Valle, who played it into Hatate. Taylor doesn’t have Valle’s glamorous Barcelona back story, but he continues to be an invaluable operator in Celtic’s unrelenting nature.

He chipped it into Hatate and then a thing of beauty broke out for the first time on the night. Hatate chested it, let it fall and calmly hit it on the half-volley. One fluid movement, one classy goal. It was enough, just.

Aberdeen came back at them, Sokler lashing one over when he had Schmeichel in his sights. The grunt put in by Carter-Vickers in trying to close him down was the sign of a player battling to the last.

Celtic won and their lead at the top now looks insurmountable at seven points, plus a game in hand.

Let’s be honest, the league is done. It was clear nobody was realistically going to catch this Celtic team before Wednesday and, after Hatate’s star turn, it’s all but certain nobody is catching them now.