Celtic Maintains One Point Lead Over Rangers

Celtic 2 Aberdeen 0

Celtic's maintained their one-point lead over Old Firm rivals Rangers with a 2-0 home victory over the Dons, leaving them at the top of the table after the Scottish Premier League split.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored the first, when he met a Shunsuke Nakamura corner and heading it into the net from six yards out in the 43rd minute.

Scott McDonald increased their lead to two in the 55th minute when he linked up with Andreas Hinkel and drove a fine shot in past Aberdeen's 'keeper Jamie Langfield.

The win initially put the Bhoys four points ahead of Rangers, who beat Hibs by 3-2 at Easter Road on Sunday.

Team manager Gordon Strachan was delighted with the win, saying, "That's as good as we've played against Aberdeen for a long time.

"The way we were playing, I thought we could have got more, but they defended well and worked hard, but I was pleased with the variation of play in the team today.

He was not so happy that the game was not televised live in Scotland, and compared the situation there unfavorably with that in England: "This game would have been perfect to show live. What you saw out there was magnificent football, Aberdeen having a go, players working hard, good systems, crowds, sunshine, perfect pitch.

"We don't show that. It's a complete nonsense what we have to do. Rangers and Celtic have to play away from home every week when you see them live on the telly.

"You don't see that with Manchester United and Liverpool."

Celtic have asked the Scottish Premier League to clarify the scheduling of the five remaining 'post-split' fixtures, that saw Rangers paired with Hearts for a third time at Ibrox this season.

A Celtic spokesperson explained: "Clearly we are quite surprised at the scheduling of matches and we have written to the SPL to get an understanding of their rationale.

"However, as they always have, (manager) Gordon Strachan and the players will get on with it."

The SPL responded with a statement that said that "Hibernian [needed] to 'gain' one home game and Hearts [needed] to 'lose' one to ensure a 19 home/19 away balance" as a result of the Edinburgh derby match.

They went on to explain that the problem could only have been avoided if the same clubs finished in the top six this season as the previous season.