Celtic began the defence of their Scottish Premier League title with a narrow 1-0 win over Aberdeen thanks to a late Kris Commons strike at Celtic Park yesterday.

The home fans had celebrated the unfurling of the championship flag before the match but the party atmosphere soon turned flat as they were left frustrated by some resolute defending from the Dons.

With rivals Rangers banished to the third division after being condemned to liquidation, Celtic have been widely tipped to canter to this season’s league title.

However, the Hoops struggled to break down a solid Aberdeen rearguard who restricted the home side to few chances before a howler from ‘keeper Jamie Langfield handed Celtic the lead on 79 minutes.

Commons, who had twice been denied by Langfield earlier in the match, received the ball back from his own short corner and fired in a low shot that the ‘keeper somehow allowed to squirm past him at his near post.

It was a much-needed boost for Neil Lennon’s side as they prepare to travel to Finland for the second leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie against HJK Helsinki on Wednesday.

“We got a bit of luck with the goal,” the Celtic manager admitted.

“We were in control of the game without being brilliant. We defended well when we had to but going forward there was a lack of freshness about us. I am just delighted to get the win and clean sheet.”

Aberdeen manager Craig Brown could not hide his disappointment.

“They switched off momentarily and you can’t do that at this level and unfortunately we lost in a soft manner,” Brown said.

“I thought we merited a point at least from the game so that’s a big disappointment.”

Elsewhere, Hearts became the season’s first SPL leaders with a 2-0 home win over St Johnstone thanks to a John Sutton penalty and a late David Templeton strike.

Darren McGregor scored an injury-time equaliser for St Mirren in their 2-2 draw with Inverness , while newly-promoted Ross County opened their SPL account with a 0-0 draw with Motherwell.

Results

Celtic 1 - Aberdeen 0
Hearts 2 - St Johnstone 0
Kilmarnock 0 - Dundee 0
Ross County 0 - Motherwell 0
St Mirren 2 - Inverness 2

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