Report: Joe Lewis to miss Aberdeen vs Celtic tomorrow night

By David Walton

April 20, 2021

Aberdeen will be missing Joe Lewis for tomorrow night’s clash against Celtic, according to the Evening Express.

Lewis had to come off during Saturday’s Scottish Cup fourth-round win against Livingston with a rib injury.

According to the Express, Lewis has fortunately suffered no break. However, he will be ruled out of their final game against Celtic next season – a match in which the Hoops have very little to play for outside of pride.

His replacement – Gary Woods – will undoubtedly be relishing the opportunity. But Celtic actually have a pretty incredible record against him in his career.

At 30, the experienced Englishman has played for Ross County, Hamilton, and now Aberdeen during his time in Scotland. He’s featured against Celtic on eight occasions and lost every single one of them [Transfermarkt].

But the real surprise is in the goals conceded stats. Woods has lost 21 goals in those eight matches against the Hoops. On two of those occasions, we rattled in four goals. In another three of them, we bagged three efforts. He’s had some pretty surreal luck against us over the years, and it’s an interesting sub-plot ahead of a game that holds little meaning elsewhere.

Joe Lewis out for Aberdeen; Celtic can’t go into their shell just because season is over

Lewis being fit in these games has hardly proved to change Aberdeen’s fortunes in the past. Given how relentless Celtic have been over the four years previous to this one, we’ve generally found success against him on a regular basis.

However, he can, on his day, have an absolute stormer against us. It’s been proven in the past at both Parkhead and Pittodrie, where he’s managed to keep the rare clean sheet over the years.

But him being out offers Aberdeen a major problem. Celtic fans may not care too much about the build-up to this one, but coming up against Woods has tended to result in a goal-rush. Hopefully, it’ll be no different tomorrow night.

Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)

Celtic can’t simply down tools between now and the summer. We have trips to Pittodrie, Easter Road, and Ibrox still to come before the season is over. We don’t want any further humiliation, even if we’re highly likely to provide it in any case.

We’ll see what kind of changes John Kennedy makes to the team for tomorrow night’s game. Chances are we get to see a few fresh faces after Sunday’s hugely disappointing 2-0 Scottish Cup exit at Ibrox.

And Lewis’ absence, at the very least, should make our task that little bit more simpler.

In other news, Kennedy’s most recent comments suggests a start for one particular Celtic fringe-man.