Sport

Celtic's three-step plan looks a winner

Again the best-laid plans of the Scottish Premier League wobbled under Celtic's sustained assault on the title.

By MIKE WILSON
Mon Apr 02 2001 - 01:00

Again the best-laid plans of the Scottish Premier League wobbled under Celtic's sustained assault on the title.

The league is supposed to enter an entertaining drama-filled final phase when it splits in two next weekend.

However, yet another Celtic victory will save the upper echelons the bother of doing anything other than running up the white flag.

Didier Agathe's goal in the 73rd minute means that all Celtic need do to win the league is defeat Dundee on Wednesday and St Mirren on Saturday, and they are now on course to turn their last five games of the season into a series of exhibition matches.

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Dundee United's defeat of Rangers on Saturday meant Celtic were just three steps from heaven yesterday. Only two more now remain.

Aberdeen did their best to put a spanner in the machine. Typically unpredictable, they took the game to Celtic, especially up the flanks where the pace of Darren Mackie on the right looked capable of leaving Joos Valgaeren for dead.

Robbie Winters on the left was able to wrong-foot his man in similar style.

Aberdeen's willing legs and unfazed close passing in midfield are also accompanied, however, by a capacity for lapses in concentration but in the first half they found Celtic in unusually forgiving mood.

Normally quick to punish, as well as being resolutely difficult to break down, Celtic's assaults on Ryan Esson's goal were mostly wild.

That Aberdeen were in one of their less generous moods was underlined by the Celtic manager Martin O'Neill's re-shaping of his team from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 with 25 minutes left.

It says something that Celtic's first corner did not come until the 55th minute, and then only when Henrik Larsson failed to put any curl to a dangerously-positioned free-kick and was grateful for a deflection.

But Celtic have an irresistible quality. When Aberdeen dallied in closing him down, Agathe turned sharply to fire with a low shot.

Aberdeen: Esson, McNaughton, McGuire, Whyte, McAllister, Mackie, Rowson, Darren Young (Belabed 82), Stavrum, Derek Young (Clark 82), Winters. Subs Not Used: Preece, Solberg, Dow. Booked: McGuire.

Celtic: Douglas, Mjallby, Vega, Valgaeren, Agathe, Healy (McNamara 65), Lambert, Lennon, Thompson, Larsson, Johnson (Moravcik 64). Subs Not Used: Gould, Boyd, Crainey. Booked: Lennon. Goals: Agathe 73.

Referee: K Clark (Scotland).