Pat Bonner spots telling Joe Hart reaction at Pittodrie that summed up Celtic's big Saturday

By John McGinley

December 17, 2022

Pat Bonner reckons today was a huge win for Celtic after scoring late on to beat Aberdeen on their own patch at Pittodrie.

The Dons hadn’t lost a Scottish Premiership match at home this season prior to Callum McGregor’s strike from the edge of the box, with their form in the north east a primary reason they sit third in the table.

With the scores tied at 0-0 with just minutes remaining, it looked like Celtic were heading for dropped points and giving Rangers an immediate boost following the appointment of Michael Beale.

Thankfully, that was shattered and realistically the Bhoys look as strong as ever at the top of the table given it was such a dominant display. We hardly laboured to the win today – it was fully deserved.

Bonner thinks the reaction of the Celtic players at full-time, Joe Hart specifically, told the story of what today meant for the players at this point of the campaign.

Speaking to BBC Sportsound, the former Celtic goalkeeper said: “They controlled the game, they passed the ball. Kyogo had three unbelievable chances right in the middle of the box.

“They do find a way. They get those late goals and they keep playing until the referee blows the final whistle.

“Three huge points for them. I could see the reaction of Joe Hart and a few of them at the end. They know, coming up here to Pittodrie and going down the road keeping their nine point gap that his was huge.

“They’re now in a very confident position. They have a few home games coming up.”

Celtic do indeed now have two home games to look forward to against Livingston and St Johnstone, both of which are likely to be similar today in terms of opposition approach.

We’ll undoubtedly have 180 minutes of low block football that the Bhoys will have to unpick as patiently and ruthlessly as they did today in Aberdeen. Neither win is guaranteed.

Ultimately that is why this win was so big today. Maintaining a nine point lead into the new year would be simply massive.

In other news, Michael Stewart believes Celtic have just ruined emerging Rangers narrative.