Scottish Premiership: Celtic (Nygren 39, Tierney 88, Forrest 90+2) Aberdeen (Bilalovic 74)
Wilfried Nancy welcomed the rub of the green which brought his first win as Celtic boss in a 3-1 victory over 10-man Aberdeen at Parkhead.
The Frenchman was under intense pressure after starting his tenure with four straight defeats – to Hearts, Roma, St Mirren and Dundee United – but it eventually came good against the Dons.
Midfielder Benjamin Nygren gave the hosts a 39th-minute lead and it got worse for the visitors just before the break when 20-year-old defender Dylan Lobban was shown a straight red card for a foul on Daizen Maeda.
The sending-off followed a mistake by Aberdeen goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov, whose fine performance otherwise – as well as the woodwork – prevented a thrashing.
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Kenan Bilalovic equalised in the 74th minute, having come off the bench, but late goals from Keiran Tierney and substitute James Forrest moved the Hoops within six points of Premiership leaders Hearts with a game in hand over the Jambos.
“I don’t believe in luck but since I’ve been here I haven’t had luck,” said Nancy.
“It’s true because when we played Hearts, the way they scored the goal, and then after that against Roma we missed a penalty.
“We have hit the post in almost every game, but the most important thing is the resilience of my players.
“I’m really proud of what they did because they had so many big chances and suddenly against 10 men you concede a goal like this. Their heads could have gone down but they didn’t. They kept attacking.
“Attack, attack, attack, waves, waves, waves.
“The two goals we scored were the reward for the grit and the resilience that they showed. The fact that we had lost so many games and they were still able to come back was something I really enjoyed seeing.”
Former Columbus Crew head coach Nancy revealed he could have delayed his early December arrival to the Hoops’ hot-seat, but wanted to assess his squad ahead of the January transfer window.
“That’s why I came at this moment,” he said.
“I could have come a little bit later but, with the club, we decided that it was the right moment because I needed time to assess the team and to evaluate.
“If I was thinking [just] about myself maybe it could have been a little bit later, but the timing is the timing.
“That’s why I accept all the things that have happened.”
Dons manager Jimmy Thelin had no complaints about the defeat. “We wanted a little more front-foot approach to the game at the beginning but we were on the back foot in the in the first half and Celtic were better than we were, but we stayed in the game,” he said.
“Then we get the red card and in the beginning of second half, we tried to keep some more threats up front, but we were a little bit lucky in the first 10, 12 minutes and we (Mitov) made some good saves.
“It’s a fair result. We wanted to grab that point but we didn’t.”
Meanwhile at Tynecastle, tightened their grip on the top spot with a 2-1 at home to Rangers. Stuart Findlay put the hosts ahead with a 38th-minute effort, followed minutes later by a second from Lawrence Shankland, Youssef Chermiti offering Rangers’ sole reply in second-half injury time.
