Hartson keeps Celtic on course

SPL/Celtic 2 Aberdeen 0: John Hartson was asked at the start of the season to fill the Celtic scoring void created by the departure of Henrik Larsson and the Welsh striker has responded in some style, putting himself on course to treble last year's total tally.

Having scored just 11 times in an injury-affected season last term, which ended prematurely after he sustained a back injury in January, he yesterday notched his 29th and 30th goals of this campaign, enough to beat Aberdeen and re-establish the Parkhead club's lead at the top of the table.

Celtic were under pressure after Rangers beat Hearts on Saturday; so this was a crucial win and reimposed their dominance on the division. And not for the first time Hartson was their hero.

His first goal followed a frustrating first half for the home team and came just two minutes after the restart, when he bundled home an Alan Thompson free kick, and his second, after 71 minutes, was a close-range finish at the end of a fine move involving Didier Agathe, substitute Craig Beattie and Chris Sutton, who returned following injury and was himself a key figure.

Around those goals Celtic contrived to miss a number of chances and had a decent penalty claim for a Michael Hart challenge on Thompson turned down, although the visitors occasionally did enough to remind them it was a contest and never more so than when Jackie McNamara had to head a Richie Byrne effort off the line.

"In the end we deserved this win," insisted Martin O'Neill. "We put in a big effort and saw it through and after finding ourselves 1-0 or 2-0 down to Aberdeen early on in the last couple of games we were delighted to get to 25 minutes on level terms. It was nail-biting for a while but we had some big performances when it mattered."

One was from Neil Lennon, who threw his shirt into the crowd on the final whistle of Celtic's last home game of the season, and possibly the final Parkhead appearance of his career with no new contract yet signed.

But it was Hartson who was fundamental.

"We caught Aberdeen sleeping a bit at the start of the second half and the first goal is always so important," he said. "I could actually have had three or four myself but after last season when I had my back injury I have to be pleased to come back with 30 so far and that's 90 in total for the club. But we know we just have to keep going because all the lads expect Rangers to win their last two games so our mindset is that we have to do the same and we will win the league."

That sounds considerably easier than it might prove but Celtic, labelled by some as a team over the hill, continue to find reserves of strength, commitment and desire that will be important over the next fortnight.

Sutton's return has been timely, as has Didier Agathe's comeback from injury, while Thompson's ability to deliver pinpoint crosses remains a formidable weapon in the Celtic armoury.

Any doubts about their resilience centre on the defence, where Bobo Balde, understood to have been watched recently by Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness, can be erratic.

Rangers had their own share of nerves after being two goals ahead against Hearts, through Thomas Buffel and Marvin Andrews, and the late own-goal from Andrews induced near-panic on Saturday. There is likely to be more tension at Ibrox, Tynecastle, Easter Road and Fir Park in the coming weekends.

None of which greatly concerns the Aberdeen manager, Jimmy Calderwood, who conceded after this defeat his own club's Uefa Cup hopes are all but dead and buried, though he refused to tip a title winner.

"Don't involve me in that," he said. "I just want to make sure we learn from this defeat. We probably had the better first-half chances but lost a bit of confidence when we went behind and the second goal killed us."

Calderwood's woes were compounded by what he fears could be serious ligament injuries to Russell Anderson and Kevin McNaughton.