Aberdeen score late equaliser to draw 3-3 with Celtic

Aberdeen scored a dramatic late equaliser to secure a 3-3 draw with Celtic at Pittodrie.

Celtic had come from behind twice to lead 3-2 into the dying minutes as they looked for their ninth win in a row in the Granite City.

But a Lewis Ferguson penalty, his second of the match, earned the hosts a draw in the 91st minute and left the Hoops three points behind league leaders Rangers.

The Dons went into half time with a 1-0 lead after Ferguson converted his first spot kick past stand in Celtic goalkeeper Scott Bain.

Callum McGregor, who was captain for the day with Scott Brown on the bench, equalised at the start of the second half before Ryan Hedges put the Dons ahead shortly after.

The game was turned on its head over a ten minute period when substitute Leigh Griffiths made it 2-2 and Ryan Christie put Neil Lennon’s men ahead with a spot-kick.

But just as the champions looked to have the three points in the bag the referee pointed to the spot for a third time.

The draw means Aberdeen remain in fourth place, three points behind second placed Celtic.

Rangers now have a chance to six points ahead at the top when they play Livingston later on Sunday.

Celtic and Aberdeen meet again in next week’s Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.

After the game Neil Lennon said: “I was disappointed not to come away with all three points.

“When you score three goals away from home, you think you are going to win the game.

“I think there is a little bit of fragility with a few of them, not playing with a major amount of confidence but again plenty of positives.

“The response second half was tremendous but we need to tidy up defensively.

“That’s eight goals in three games, it’s not good enough.

“In the main I was satisfied, particularly with the second-half performance but defensively we need to do a lot better.

“There is still a long way to go. The players had a tough week, we could have played better.

“We will improve, there is no question of that, I’m confident of that and we will get players back from Covid and injuries.

“So there is a long way to go, defensively we are making too many individual mistakes and collective mistakes and that is not on the goalkeeper, Scott Bain was very good today.”

Bain took over from regular number one Vasilis Barkas who has a back injury which will be assessed before the Europa League clash with Lille on Thursday night.

Lennon revealed that French striker Odsonne Edouard and Israel defender Nir Bitton, both missing with Covid issues along with Hatem Elhamed, are on their way back.

He said: “We will see how Odsonne and Nir are, hopefully they will join training tomorrow so hopefully they will be available.

“Elhamed is back tomorrow but obviously he will be another week or so.”
Dons boss McInnes admits he could not have stood to have come away from the game with nothing.

He said: “If we hadn’t got something from that game it would have been an absolute travesty.

“We were so good in the second half for long spells. We have had late winners against us on a couple of occasions, not just here but at Celtic Park as well against Celtic.

“You get a few pats on the back and plaudits for your efforts and putting up a good show and all that sort of nonsense and I couldn’t have been doing with that today.

“We needed to get something from that game and I was glad we got something from the game, no more than we deserved.”

McInnes revealed Dylan McGeouch could be out of next week’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic at Hampden Park with an “overstretched groin”.

McInnes said: “I hope we got Marley (Watkins) off in time with a tight hamstring and next week’s game we will have a few more ready than they were for this one.”