BRENDAN Rodgers may have been disappointed that he only managed to add Eboue Kouassi to his Celtic squad during the January transfer window before it closed earlier this week.
The Irishman had been eager to recruit more extensively – so that his new arrivals had settled by the time the Champions League qualifiers get underway in the summer.
Yet, the sudden and completely unexpected re-emergence of Dedryck Boyata as a first team at Parkhead in the last fortnight has increased the options available to him considerably.
A second-half Boyata goal secured, just as it had done seven days earlier against St. Johnstone, a 1-0 victory over Aberdeen at Celtic Park last night.
The narrow triumph extended Celtic’s record unbeaten domestic run to 28 games and stretched their lead over Rangers at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership to 25 points.
Rodgers could probably field Gary Mackay-Steven at centre half and Celtic would still win a sixth consecutive Scottish title with ease n the coming months such is their total dominance in this country.
Aberdeen have finished second in the top flight in the last two seasons and their spirited performance last night, coupled with the sorry capitulation of Rangers in the capital, suggested they could make it a hat-trick this term.
Rodgers made one change to the team which had defeated Hearts comfortably three days earlier; Mikael Lustig came in at right back having recovered from the back strain which he had been sidelined by for the previous fortnight.
That meant there was, once again, no Leigh Griffiths or Moussa Dembele up front for the home team. But the absence of their two first choice strikers certainly hadn’t hindered them at the weekend when they netted four times.
Kieran Tierney, who had set up two of those goals, came close to opening the scoring in just the fourth minute. He cut inside from wide on the left flank, threaded his way past several opposition defenders and sent a shot just over.
Aberdeen certainly competed far more tenaciously than they had on their last visit to Glasgow to play Celtic in the Betfred Cup final back in November. The improvement they have made as a team since that disappointing 3-0 loss at Hampden was stark and noticeable.
Boyata was once again preferred to Erik Sviatchenko at centre half. The Belgian internationalist’s involvement against Albion Rovers, St. Johnstone and Hearts had been viewed as a chance to give his Danish team mate, first choice in the first half of the season, a rest.
However, Boyata’s presence in this outing suggested he may be the preferred option for his manager alongside Jozo Simunovic.
The 26-year-old also netted a crucial header at a set piece for the second time in three games, getting in front of Ash Taylor to head home a Sinclair free-kick And the sizeable Celtic support was given something else to cheer at the end of the evening when news came through that Rangers had lost 4-1 to Hearts at Tynecastle.
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