Battling Celtic restored their three-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League with a 1-0 win at Aberdeen yesterday.

Striker Chris Sutton saw his 24th-minute shot deflect off Aberdeen defender Phil McGuire into the far corner of the net for what proved the winner before 17,051 fans at Pittodrie.

Celtic boss Martin O'Neill hailed his side's sixth SPL win in a row and told BBC radio: "I am delighted to have won here. It's a difficult place to come and I am pleased to go away with the three points."

Champions Celtic sit at the summit with 56 points from 22 games. City rivals Rangers occupy second place with 53 points from the same number of games after dismissing Dunfermline 3-0 at Ibrox on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen have now racked up 413 minutes without scoring a league goal and their manager Jimmy Calderwood said: "I didn't think enough of us believed that we could beat Celtic. That's not good enough for a team in fourth place."

Aberdeen have 36 points from 22 games, four points behind third-placed Hibernian.

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