Drama as Aberdeen beat Bhoys

Celtic 2 Aberdeen 3

John Stewart pounced well into injury-time to give Aberdeen the points when it looked like they had thrown away a two-goal lead. The third-placed side were gaining rave reviews under new manager Jimmy Calderwood - but not even he could have envisaged their incredible start.

Darren Mackie and Fernando Pasquinelli fired them into a two-goal lead inside the first six minutes and not even a John Hartson double could prevent Celtic suffering their first defeat of the new domestic campaign.

The home crowd were stunned in the fifth minute when Aberdeen went ahead.

Bobo Balde was forced to put the ball behind for a corner after his short backpass but the Celtic defence failed to learn from that from the resulting corner.

Pasquinelli flicked Derek Adams’s corner across the face of goal and Darren Mackie was left in acres of space to bundle the ball home from close range. Aberdeen doubled their lead just a minute later when Pasquinelli slotted the ball into an empty net.

Sutton helped his side get back in the match just before the break when he pulled the ball back for Hartson to crash a low drive past Esson. Celtic dragged themselves level in the 68th minute to set up a grandstand finish.

Hartson swivelled on a Stanislav Varga ball into the box and even though Esson got a touch to it the power of the shot took it over the goal-line.

CELTIC: Marshall, Agathe, Varga, Balde, McNamara, Petrov, Lennon, Juninho Paulista, Wallace, Sutton, Hartson.

ABERDEEN: Preece, McGuire, McNaughton, Anderson, Severin, Tosh, Hart, Clark, Adams, Pasquinelli, Mackie.

Referee: W Young (Scotland)

Dunfermline 1 Rangers 2

SECOND-HALF goals from Jean-Alain Boumsong and Nacho Novo gave Rangers a vital 2-1 win at Dunfermline.

The home side had been deservedly leading at the break through Craig Brewster’s superb opener.

But Boumsong headed Rangers level seconds after the restart and Novo made no mistake from the spot after Andrius Skerla had brought Fernando Ricksen down.